Return to the Gallery
by pingo1387
Summary: Sequel to "Visit to the Gallery." The eight Strawhats have escaped, but Nami can't shake the feeling that something's wrong, especially when she sees the portrait of that man with the blond hair and strange eyebrow.
1. Something's Missing

_**!IMPORTANT NOTE, READ BEFORE PROCEEDING!**_

 **This story is a sequel/alternate path to Visit to the Gallery. I recommend reading that one before starting this one. Here's the link if you need it:**  
 **/s/10691515/1/Visit-to-the-Gallery**

 **SINCE this is an alternate path, some things have been altered from the first story:**

 **\- No items were exchanged among the crew EXCEPT that Sanji gave Nami his lighter at one point.**

 **\- The crew did not go through the orange and aqua rooms at the end.**

 **Also, please note that this is rated M for mild mental and physical torture.**

* * *

 _At last, it will all come to an end! Despite the possessed artwork attacking them, losing many rose petals, and Sanji briefly being driven insane, the Strawhat pirates have reached their final destination, their ticket to the real world: The mural Fabricated World. Everyone but Nami and Sanji is through. But as these two prepare to enter the painting, familiar voices call their attention away . . ._

"Come on, Sanji- _kun_ ," Nami said, turning away from the image of Bellemère and Zeff. "Let's go."

She paused in lifting a leg to step through, lowered it, and turned. "Sanji- _kun_?"

Sanji was slowly walking towards the image of Zeff, who grinned encouragingly and held out his arms.

"If I go . . . with him . . ." Sanji muttered as if in a trance.

"Sanji- _kun_ , come _on_ , we don't have time for this!" Nami exclaimed, exasperated.

"There you go, little eggplant," Zeff said. "Everyone else is just around the way! They can't wait to see you again!"

Nami hurried forward and seized Sanji's shoulders. "Sanji- _kun_ —!"

"Nami- _san_."

Nami froze, drawing back. Sanji sounded almost like he had in the short time before . . . before the doll room.

"Go on," Sanji said, still facing away. "Go on . . . ahead. I promise I'll catch up later."

"That's what you said before," Nami whispered. "But you never caught up with us."

Sanji was silent. The image of Bellemère had vanished without Nami's notice, but the image of Zeff was moving towards Sanji. He stopped directly in front of him and it was the three of them—Nami, Sanji, and the vision—in front of Fabricated World.

"Hey, what's going on?" Luffy called from the other side. "What are you guys looking at? Nami? Sanji?"

"Come on, little eggplant, don't make me wait," the image of Zeff insisted, taking Sanji's hand in his own. Sanji did not resist.

"Keep my lighter for me until I catch up, Nami- _san_ ," he said quietly. "I promise, I will catch up. I just . . ." he hung his head. "I need to . . ."

"Sanji- _kun_ —! No, don't—!"

Nami reached out a desperate hand, but her friends, becoming impatient, reached through themselves and grabbed her, there were too many hands for her to stop them—and as she was dragged through the painting, the image of Zeff flickered and vanished before her eyes, Sanji was following _nothing_ —

"NO!"

* * *

The eight Strawhats met at the top of the stairs with smiles and waves.

"So . . ." Luffy scratched the back of his neck. "I guess I'm bored. Should we go?"

"How long has it been, anyway?" Franky muttered, glancing out the window. "Feels like hours, but the sun's barely moved . . ."

"I kinda feel like . . . I'm missing something," Usopp said, absently patting himself all over in vain search. "Is it just me?"

"No, I do, too," Robin said, a bit troubled. "But . . . I can't think of what it could be."

"Maybe we're just hungry?" Luffy suggested, bouncing on his feet.

Zoro nodded as his stomach grumbled. "I could go for some grub."

"Speaking of which, whose turn is it to cook tonight?" Nami asked, glancing around.

"I believe it's mine," Brook said cheerfully. "Though I'm sure my food can't be very good, seeing as I have no tongue to taste it with!"

"Oh, you're not that bad," Usopp said reassuringly.

"Can I have cotton candy tonight?" Chopper asked hopefully.

"I'll get you some later," Robin promised.

Nami's brow furrowed and she looked around. "Are . . . is everyone here?"

The others glanced around, doing quick headcounts.

"Yeah, why?" Luffy asked curiously.

Nami shook her head. "I thought . . . well, never mind."

She looked around and spotted an artwork hanging nearby. Frowning again, she left the group to get a better look.

"Nami?" Robin said as she and the others followed her.

Nami had stopped in front of a portrait. It depicted a sleeping man, sitting with one knee up to his chest and the other bent on the ground in front of him. His hair was blond, sleek, and combed over his left eye. For some reason, the eyebrow above his right eye curled up into a spiral on the outside. His suit was something one might wear to a dinner party. He was surrounded by rose vines, covered in blooming blue roses, one of which seemed to blossom from his breast pocket. Despite being beautiful, the image brought a twinge of sadness to mind.

The placard beneath read—

" _Forgotten Portrait_ ," Brook read aloud.

"Why would Guacamole paint a guy like this?" Luffy mused, tilting his head and staring at the painting as if it would tell him.

"Better question: Why did he paint the eyebrow that way?" Zoro muttered, raising his own.

"I wonder if he's sleeping, or . . ." Robin murmured.

"Don't say things like that!" Usopp hissed. He turned back to the portrait. "But, y'know . . . I feel kinda . . . what's the word? Sorrowful . . ."

"You could've just said 'sad,'" Franky said, examining the portrait. "But . . . I see what you mean . . ."

"Nami?" Chopper whispered, glancing up. "Are you okay?"

Nami's eyes were glued to the painting.

"Those roses," she murmured, one hand brushing hair behind her ear. "I swear I've . . ."

"Nami?" Robin said gently. "Maybe we should get back to the ship for an early dinner. How does that sound?"

Nami nodded, but her eyes did not leave the painting.

"Y'know," Zoro said as the group turned away, heading to the stairs, "you'd think that with all the time we've been sailing, we would've gotten a cook to join by now . . ."

"Next island," Luffy said firmly as they started down the stairs.

"You always say that," Usopp muttered.

"But I mean it this time."

Robin, at the rear of the group, turned to see Nami still staring at the portrait.

"Nami!"

Nami jumped and looked over. "Right, sorry," she said, hurrying after her. She cast one last look back at the painting as they went.

* * *

"Great dinner, Brook," Luffy said cheerfully, setting down his plate and burping.

"Thank you, Luffy- _san_ ," Brook said as he sat with the others to start on his own portion. "I only wish I could taste it myself, though I have no tongue to do so!"

"Yeah, it's as good as . . ." Usopp frowned. "Usual . . . ?"

The others looked at him curiously, noticing his hesitation.

"Brook?" Usopp said slowly, frowning deeply. "When was the last time you cooked?"

Brook opened his mouth, but paused in taking a breath (though he had no lungs).

"That's odd," he remarked at last. "I don't quite recall."

"Well, you must've done it at some point," Zoro reasoned. "I mean, don't we all take turns doing . . . it . . . ?"

He frowned. "Wait, when did _I_ last cook?"

Robin looked around, distinctly troubled. "I can't remember when I . . . can anyone else—?"

The others slowly shook their heads.

"B-But—we've gotta—I mean, we must've—what does Nami's food taste like?" Usopp asked quickly.

"Even I can't remember," Nami murmured. "The last time I remember cooking . . . is back in the East Blue, before . . ."

She trailed off, staring at the table in confusion. "Before . . . ?"

"What's going on?" Chopper whispered.

Luffy frowned. "Okay, so . . . we all know, or we think we do, that everyone's been taking turns making meals and stuff. But no one remembers cooking and no one remembers what anyone else's food tastes like . . . right?"

The others nodded in unison.

"I got it," Luffy said. "It's a mystery."

He returned to his food. Usopp smacked him. "This isn't the kind of mystery that gets better with eating!"

"But I'm hungry," Luffy whined. "Can't we finish dinner and then solve the mystery?"

"Sounds good to me," Zoro said, going back to his food as well.

The others held troubled looks, but of course they could not argue with Luffy when it came to food, so they, too, returned to their meals.

* * *

Luffy gathered everyone out on the lawn in a circle. They looked at him expectantly and he took a deep breath.

"Mysteries make my head hurt," he said abruptly. "Robin, Chopper, you guys take over."

Franky, Usopp, Zoro, and Nami hit him.

"You're not even going to try?!" Nami snapped.

"Luffy, come _on_ ," Usopp groaned.

"It's fine," Robin said. "Let's retrace our steps today. We all woke up and had breakfast, didn't we? Who made breakfast?"

The others shrugged as one.

"I can't remember, either," Robin admitted. "We had lunch shortly before docking . . ."

"I can't remember eating today," Franky interrupted. "But we must've eaten before now, otherwise we would've been super hungry, right?"

Luffy nodded. "I don't remember eating, either, but we had to've eaten something!"

"Then what did we eat?" Zoro demanded.

"I don't know!" Luffy exclaimed. "I can't remember! Ugh, my head hurts!"

"You think _your_ head hurts? My hair's about to fall out!" Usopp cried.

"ENOUGH!"

All argument ceased so suddenly it was as if everyone's mouths had been sewn shut. Nami was standing, very upset.

"I'm going to take a walk," she muttered, turning away. "If anyone wants to join me, that's fine. I don't know anything, but my head's going to explode if I stay here, so I'll see you in a bit."

She leapt off the ship and strode away on the island.

"I'll go with her," Robin murmured.

* * *

Nami whipped around. "Who—? Oh, Robin."

Robin fell into step with her, smiling sympathetically. "I'm sorry we made you upset."

Nami sighed. "I just . . . I don't know what's going on. Why can't we remember . . . ?"

"I know as much as you," Robin murmured. The sun was sinking as they walked into a patch of trees.

Not far in, a single pink rose sprouted near a trunk. Nami paused and glanced at it, smiling.

Robin looked down and smiled fondly, kneeling and reaching out a hand.

"Chopper should be more caref—"

She and Nami stiffened just as her hand was about to brush the flower. Their smiles vanished, replaced by confusion. Robin withdrew her hand as if it had been burned and stared at the rose.

"Robin," Nami whispered. "What . . . ?"

"What . . . was I saying?" Robin murmured, putting a hand to her temple. "Something about . . . Chopper . . . ?" she shook her head. "I can't remember . . ."

"Let's go back," Nami said, eyeing the innocent pink rose.

Robin nodded and stood. They turned around and went back the way they'd came.

"There were roses in that painting," Nami murmured.

Robin glanced at her. Nami was staring at the ground.

"The _Forgotten Portrait_ ," Nami said. "That man was surrounded by . . . blue roses."

"So he was," Robin said. "What of it?"

"I don't know."

* * *

 _Two days later_

"Again?"

Nami glanced back at Zoro, resting on deck, as she was about to leave the ship. She nodded.

"Honestly, so what if we can't remember who's been cooking what around here?" he said, shifting where he sat. "We know it's been happening, so let's just move on. Besides, what does that dumb painting have to do it?"

"I don't know," Nami snapped, temper flaring. "There's just—something about it . . ."

Zoro sighed. "You know, staring at that cook won't—"

He stopped, furrowing his brow. Nami was frozen, staring at him oddly.

"What . . . did I just say?" he murmured. "Nami, what did I just say?"

"I don't remember," Nami whispered, more confused than ever. "I'm—I'm going back to the gallery."

"You know, staring at that painting won't change anything," he called, but he was ignored; Nami left the ship, heading straight for the art gallery.

* * *

Nami stood yet again in front of Forgotten Portrait, staring at its subject.

"Who are you?" she whispered. "Did Guertena base you on a real person?"

She brushed her fingers against the frame.

"Why are you forgotten? What's your name?"

Soon she sighed, holding her hand close to her chest. With one last look at the painting, she turned around and jumped when she found herself face-to-face with Luffy.

"You're here again," he said.

She nodded.

"I don't get it. What's so great about this place?"

"I don't know," Nami said. "But . . . that painting, there's something about it that . . . just look at it!"

Luffy stepped towards the painting and studied it. A shadow of something passed across his features.

"I see," he murmured. "But . . ."

"I know," Nami whispered. "I don't get it, either."

"Oh, I came to get you," Luffy said, turning around. "It's your turn to cook and we're getting hungry. Come on!"

Nami sighed and followed him to the stairs, pausing for a moment to read a sign posted near the flight.

 _A notice to all visitors: There is a strict ban on fire-starting implements in the gallery. We request that you report the use of any matches, lighters, or the like. Should the use of such implements be reported,_

Nami did not read past that, her eyes travelling across the first part over and over.

"Matches, lighters, or the like," she murmured. "Lighters . . . lighters . . . ?"

"Nami?" Luffy called from the bottom. "You okay?"

She ignored him and felt her clothes, searching. At last she felt a hard lump beneath her shirt, which she hadn't bothered to change for a few days. She reached inside and pulled something out.

It was a silver lighter.

She frowned and opened the lid, flicking the wheel. A bright flame sprung up and Nami stared at it, entranced.

"Nami?" Luffy said, coming up the stairs now. He leaned over her shoulder. "Huh? Where'd you get that?"

"Paintings . . ." she whispered. "Shouldn't . . . wiggle . . . their tongues."

"Huh?"

Nami fell to her knees, dropping the lighter to the floor, where it snapped shut, extinguishing the flame. She clutched her head, closing her eyes in a sudden flood of pain.

 _Youandtheroseareintertwinedknowtheweightoflife_  
 _THELIARSROOM_  
 _TheLadyinRed_  
 _Whentherosewiltssotoowillyourotaway_  
 _Orangeroseyellowrose_  
 _Redrosegreenrose_  
 _TheLadyinBlue_  
 _Bloodeverywhereithurtsithurts_  
 _Movingpaintings_  
 _Rosepetals_  
 _Ballsofpaint_  
 _Headlessstatues_  
 _Dollsdollsdolls_  
 _Mannequinheads_  
 _Pinkrosepurplerose_  
 _Paintingsmovingtoomanypaintingsithurts_  
 _Cyanroseblackrose_  
 _ **Withered** rose_  
 _ **Blue** rose_  
 _Blueroseinbreastpocket_  
 _Witheredbluerose_  
 _Healthybluerose_  
 _Lighter **cigarettes** smoking_  
 _Suit **ladiesman**_  
 _ **Blond** hair_  
 _Curly **eyebrow**_  
 _Shameless **flirt**_  
 _ **Stupid** cook_  
 ** _Cook_**  
 _ **He** isa **cook**_  
 _ **He** is **ourcook**_  
 ** _Heisourfriend_**  
 ** _Hisnameis_**

"Sanji."

"What?" Luffy said, kneeling by Nami. "Hey, Nami, are you okay? Do you need Chopper?"

"Sanji- _kun_ ," she whispered. "Oh, god, Sanji- _kun_!"

"No, his name's Chopper," Luffy said patiently.

Nami stared at him. "I—Luffy—"

She seized the lighter, stood, and strode back to the portrait of the sleeping man—of _Sanji_ , their own _Sanji_.

"What happened?" she said, clenching the lighter close with a white-knuckled grip. "Why are you like this?"

"Nami, you need to stop talking to the painting now," Luffy said seriously, approaching her. "Let's go back, you don't have to make dinner if you're not up to—"

"We're going to get you back," Nami said, ignoring him. "Wait just a little longer, Sanji- _kun_."

She turned on her heel and ran down the stairs. Luffy shrugged and followed.

* * *

"I've remembered everything."

The Strawhats stared at Nami. Everyone stood around the lawn where she'd called an emergency meeting.

"You have?" Usopp said. "That's great! Can you make dinner first and then explain? We're getting hungry—"

"I'm not making dinner," Nami snapped. "I'm not the cook."

"Technically we're all 'the cook,'" Zoro pointed out.

"No, we are not," Nami said. "I don't know how or why, but our memories have been messed with. We don't remember who's cooked what because _none of us have been cooking_."

"So who has?" Chopper asked.

"Sanji- _kun_."

A moment of silence.

"That name again," Luffy said. "That's what you were calling the portrait, wasn't it?"

"What, talking to the painting now?" Zoro muttered. "Staring at it every hour was bad enough, but—"

"Shut up," Nami snapped. She ran her fingers through her hair. "I don't get it at all. How can we all have just . . . forgotten him?"

She looked up. "Don't you guys remember who took care of Mr. 2 Bon Clay back in Alabasta?"

"No one did," Usopp said in surprise. "He surrendered and even gave me back my goggles."

"Who—?" Franky muttered.

"A swan," Zoro murmured.

"Zoro," Nami said, "who do you fight with every day?"

Zoro frowned. "What do you mean? Pretty much all of you for one reason or another." He glanced at Luffy and Usopp. "These two keep tripping over me when I'm trying to nap."

"Well, if you wouldn't nap in the middle of the deck—" Usopp muttered.

"What happened at the Baratie?" Nami asked, turning to Luffy.

"Well, I had to work there for a bit, Zoro got to fight that Warlord, and then I beat up Krieg," Luffy said. "Then before we left to get you, I asked if anyone wanted to join but they all said no." He sighed. "I wish we'd kidnapped one of them or something, we could really use a cook—"

"You're wrong," Nami said, her voice breaking. "You're wrong! Someone _did_ join us! Sanji- _kun_ did! He's been with us ever since then! His cooking's the best this side of the Grand Line, he's a stupid womanizer, he's a self-sacrificial _moron_ , and he's our _friend_!"

Tears filled her eyes and spilled over suddenly. Luffy's hands clenched and Robin and Chopper looked worried while the others stepped back awkwardly.

"But now he's stuck in that _awful_ place!" Nami cried. "Because he's a goddamn _liar_ , he said he'd catch up and he never did, he fell for a hallucination and now _he's_ a painting!" A half-laugh burst through her sobs. "At least now I know why his painting's called _Forgotten Portrait!_ None of you remember him!"

"Nami . . . Nami, calm down," Usopp said, patting her shoulder. "It's been a long few days, why don't you go lie down and—"

"Don't tell me to lie down!" she yelled, glaring. Usopp flinched and hid behind Zoro. "You don't even remember how many times Sanji- _kun_ 's saved your ass! He got himself hit by lightning _twice_ for _us!"_

Usopp stared at her nervously. Luffy's expression was unreadable as he watched Nami.

"But it doesn't matter if none of you remember him," Nami said, fresh tears welling up. "Because he's going to get out even if I have to go back there alone and find him myself. And maybe once I do, _then_ you'll all remember our cook!"

"Go back there?" Robin asked.

Nami nodded. "We . . . have to go back," she whispered. "To the dark gallery."


	2. Stairs, Roses, and Ambush

"The what gallery?" Chopper said.

"That place," Nami said. "We were all there before—the roses, the paintings, the dolls—but none of you remember, do you?"

They shook their heads.

"It's terrible, but Sanji- _kun_ 's there," Nami said, shivering. "If we go back there, maybe we'll find him, and then your memories will . . ."

"Where is this place?" Zoro asked.

"Some—other dimension—? I don't know, but the mural in the real gallery seems to be a gateway," Nami said, holding herself.

"Fabulous World?" Usopp said.

"Fabricated," Nami corrected. "Fitting name, come to think of it . . . at any rate, that's how we all got back before."

"So," Franky said. "You're saying that to get to this place, we gotta go to Fabulous World, and then this Sanji guy will be somewhere in there."

Nami nodded.

"Alright," Luffy said, adjusting his hat. "Let's go!"

Nami looked at him, surprised he had agreed so easily.

"What?" he said, glancing at her. "C'mon. Isn't the gallery gonna close soon? Not that we couldn't break in if we needed to."

Zoro nodded, adjusting his swords.

"Y—Yeah," Usopp said bravely. "I mean, I dunno if you're delusional or what, but no way the brave warrior Usopp won't come along to protect you!"

Luffy grinned. "Don't worry," he said cheerfully. "She's not imagining things. No matter what happens, we can trust Nami."

Nami smiled, bringing up a hand to wipe at her eyes. "Thank you," she murmured. "Luffy . . . everyone."

* * *

As before, the gang turned in their weapons and things at the front desk. They went upstairs. The gallery was five minutes to closing time, and the only patrons were themselves.

"Nami, you're gonna lead the way," Luffy said. "If you really know what's going on, you should know what to do."

Nami nodded. "Stick together here," she said steadily. "Don't look at the mural until I give the word."

The others glanced around and nodded. Luffy fell back and let her lead. They passed _Forgotten Portrait_ , and Nami, along with a few others, threw a glance at it. Finally, they reached the hall where the long mural hung innocently.

"Don't lose each other," Nami breathed as everyone stared at the floor. "Three . . . two . . . look now!"

As one, they looked up and gazed upon the painting.

The lights flickered.

"Um . . ." Chopper looked at Nami. "Did it work?"

"I think so," Nami said. "Let's go find some stairs."

The lights went out, leaving the place dim.

"Go on," Luffy said as Usopp and Brook looked around, scared.

Nami took a deep breath, glanced around, and then headed off to the right of the mural. They passed by several artworks, including one of a black cat and a sculpture of a melting blue figure. Nami stole yet another glance at _Forgotten Portrait_ as they passed by it again, the window nearby fogged up. Unnoticed by anyone as they took the stairs to the lower floor, the painted subject's eyes slid open.

"I probably should have mentioned this before," Nami said, glancing at the front doors which she knew were locked (the man behind the desk had vanished), "but we've . . . lost our strength here, and our Devil Fruits are useless."

"Thought I felt something weird," Zoro remarked, flexing his fingers. Luffy pulled on his cheek and frowned while Robin and Chopper tested their own powers to no avail.

"Guessing we can't go outside," Franky said, checking the doors and finding they were indeed locked.

Robin glanced at the windows. It was impossible to see outside.

"This is . . . this is definitely right," Nami said. "This is the dark gallery. We need to keep moving and find some stairs."

They turned and went straight ahead towards the huge floor painting, _Abyss of the Deep_ , and turned right from there. Down the hall was the sculpture titled _Embodiment of Spirit_ —only now the rose was not red and healthy, but blue and withered.

"Did that sculpture change?" Robin murmured as they passed by.

Nami looked at it and froze.

"Nami?"

She shook her head and shivered. "Come on."

They finally found the set of stairs near the piece called _Twinkling of Crystals and Stars_.

"Hey, we were looking at this the first time we came here," Usopp said to Nami.

Nami nodded. "And these are the stairs we went down . . ." she glanced at him. "But you don't remember that."

Usopp shook his head.

"Do any of you remember?" Nami asked, looking around. "Does any of this seem familiar at _all_?"

They glanced around, scratching the backs of their necks, shrugging, brows furrowing in thought . . .

"Okay," Nami said, turning away. "Let's keep going."

They descended the set of stairs with caution. Usopp clung to Zoro's shirt while Chopper rode on Franky's shoulder.

The descent seemed to last an eternity. When they finally reached the bottom, they found themselves in a large, circular room, the walls painted haphazardly in splashes of soft orange and deep blue. At the far end was a mustard-yellow door, and in the center sat a square table with a vase resting upon it, filled with eight roses of all different colors. The door on the opposite side had two signs on either side, illegible at that distance.

"So . . . what now?" Franky asked expectantly.

Nami stiffened, eyes darting around.

"This is . . . different from last time," she breathed. "I'm—I'm not sure where we are, exactly."

"Oh, dear," Brook murmured.

"I don't like this place," Usopp whimpered, holding Zoro's shirt. "It gives me the willies . . ."

"Everything gives you the willies," Zoro pointed out. "But I'll agree with you here. This place feels . . . wrong."

"First thing's first—our roses," Nami said, gathering her resolve. She marched to the center table and gently lifted the beautiful flowers from the vase. The others approached and examined the roses curiously.

"What do they do?" Luffy asked, poking one.

"Take yours," Nami said, holding them out expectantly. They stared at her.

"Oh, right," she muttered. "Look, this one's mine." She took her orange rose out and held it up to Luffy's face. "Luffy, tell me what it smells like."

Luffy sniffed it. "Tangerines . . . and money? Hey, that's you!"

"Oh!" Chopper exclaimed.

"We can't smell what our own roses are like," Nami explained, taking her rose back, "so if you're unsure, take a whiff."

The roses were passed around and traded until each was with their respective owner.

"We need to keep them safe," Nami said. "If anything happens to them—"

"What's a stupid flower got to do with anything?" Zoro said, twirling his own rose between his fingers. "Shouldn't we worry about protecting ourselves more?"

Nami clenched a hand and pointed to the signs by the far door. "I bet you anything one of those signs says, 'You and the rose are intertwined. Know the weight of your own life,' and the other says, 'When the rose wilts, so too will you rot away.' Do you get it?"

"No," Usopp said.

Nami grasped two petals from her own rose and yanked them out, tossing them to the ground. She cried out as a small, shallow gash appeared from nowhere on her shoulder.

"Nami!" Chopper cried.

"Now will you guys listen?" she demanded, shooting a pointed look at Zoro, who held up his hands nervously. "If we're not careful, we'll _die_ in here."

The others stared with wide eyes.

"I'm fine," she muttered. "Just . . . take care of your roses. If all the petals fall off . . ." she trailed away. "There should be vases in some places. If anyone loses petals and there's a vase with water, your rose can grow back with that."

"That's convenient," Usopp said at last. He and Luffy tucked their roses into their pockets; Zoro stuck his into his _haramaki;_ Franky placed his in his shirt pocket; Brook's rose stem went neatly between the folds of his ascot; Chopper's went between his antlers; and Robin and Nami tucked theirs behind their ears.

"Well, if that's all, let's go," Luffy said cheerfully. Nami smiled slightly, nodded, and cautiously went through the yellow door, the others close behind.

Robin adjusted her rose as they walked down the empty hall, the walls matching Usopp's rose. "You know, I was just reading about rose colors the other day."

"Were you?" Nami said, keeping a careful eye on the path ahead.

"Mm," Robin said. As they turned the corner to the right, she continued, "Each color symbolizes something. Red represents romance and passion."

The others stared at Luffy.

" _Romance?"_ Usopp repeated in disbelief.

"Oh!" Franky exclaimed. "A _man's_ romance! And passion for adventure!"

Luffy laughed. "Well, yeah! What else would it be?"

"Green roses," Robin said, earning a side-eyed glance from Zoro, "represent energy and vitality."

He grunted in response.

"Orange means great desire," Robin said.

"Desire for money," Chopper whispered.

Nami said nothing.

"Yellow can mean friendship or jealousy, depending on how you interpret it," Robin said, glancing at Usopp, who looked at his own rose curiously.

"Pink is sweetness and elegance," Robin continued, smiling at Chopper. Now looking at Franky, she said, "A lighter blue rose, though fictional, represents a renewed spirit and self-respect."

Franky grinned at this and puffed out his chest with pride.

"And a black rose?" Brook asked curiously.

"Death."

A moment of silence. Then Brook chuckled.

"But it can also represent a life reborn and new beginnings," Robin added, smiling.

"How about purple?" Luffy asked, looking back at Robin.

"Majesty and enchantment," she said quietly, brushing her fingers against her rose.

Nami's shoulders shook slightly.

"Nami?" Robin said.

"Do you know . . . what Sanji- _kun_ would have said about that?" Nami asked softly.

The others glanced around.

"Well . . . no," Robin said. "What would he have said?"

"He probably would have said . . ." Nami cleared her throat and threw out her arms, not turning around. "'That's perfect for you, Robin- _chan_! No one has beauty or majesty more enchanting than yours!'"

She dropped her arms after a moment, the others a bit startled. Robin smiled nervously. "Is that so?"

Nami nodded. "He said silly things like that at every chance."

"And he was on the crew," Zoro said skeptically.

"He _is_ ," Nami corrected. "Robin . . . what does a blue rose mean?"

"A darker blue rose," Robin mused. "From what I remember, in literature, they represent unattainable things and deep sorrow."

Nami was silent.

"Nami, hey, don't worry," Usopp said hastily, almost tripping over his own feet (he had let go of Zoro's shirt at last). "I'm sure we'll find this Sanji guy soon."

Nami nodded. "Thanks . . . but I have to wonder . . . how long has it been for him?"

"Huh?" Chopper said, shifting on Franky's shoulder.

"When we came here before, we stayed for hours, but when we came out . . . no time had passed in the real world," Nami explained.

"Mystery clocks?" Luffy said in awe.

Nami sighed. "Yeah. Mystery clocks."

"At least we won't miss dinner," Zoro remarked.

"When we get Sanji- _kun_ back, we won't have to worry about who cooks what anymore," Nami said, and she held her head a bit higher as she walked.

"That does sound lovely," Brook sighed.

The hallway ended shortly thereafter with a red door. Nami opened it and stepped inside, only to quickly step back out, closing the door partway.

"What is it?" Usopp asked, craning his neck to get a look.

Nami took a deep breath. "We're going in, but _be careful_."

The group cautiously entered, closing the door behind them. The room was very large, square, and red. On each of the three walls was a red door, the far one slightly ajar.

All around the room were scattered white mannequin heads, some with red paint dripping from their glassy eyes; creepy blue dolls in differently-colored dresses, lying in various spots and positions, all with eerie red eyes and stitched smiles; and headless metal statues, all with feminine figures. Two paintings hung crooked side-by-side on their right wall, to the right of that door; one painting was _The Lady in Red_ while the other was _The Lady in Blue_.

Usopp whimpered. "Why do I get the feeling these guys are gonna start moving?"

"They probably are," Nami agreed, looking around cautiously.

Usopp's shriek resembled a baby bird's cry.

"Shh!" Nami hissed, whipping around and slamming her hand over Usopp's mouth. "Don't disturb them!"

Usopp nodded, eyes wide, and Nami removed her hand.

"Can you explain?" Robin whispered.

"All of these things attacked us at one point or another," Nami murmured. "Those painting ladies went after our roses . . . the headless statues can't see, but they came after us, too . . . the mannequin heads started popping up out of nowhere after Sanji- _kun_ broke one . . . and the dolls were . . ."

She shook her head.

"What do we do?" Chopper whimpered, clinging to Franky for safety.

"Stick together," Nami whispered. "Quietly . . . we'll go for the left door. And . . . now."

Like a hive mind, they moved slowly as one to the left red door, avoiding brushing against the artworks.

When they reached the door, Luffy reached for the knob and tried it, but found it locked. Frustrated, he instinctively lifted his foot—

"No!" Nami hissed, but it was too late—a _BANG_ echoed through the room as Luffy tried to kick down the door. This only resulted in Luffy hopping on one foot in pain.

"I forgot I lost my strength," he whined. "And my Devil Fruit . . . that _hurt_ . . ."

"Guys," Usopp whispered.

"Even if you hadn't, that was too loud!" Nami snapped. "We need to keep it down!"

"Guys?" Usopp murmured.

"Well, that's how I usually get in locked places!" Luffy exclaimed. "It was in-sync!"

"You mean _instinct_ , and you're not an animal, Luffy, use your head for once—!"

"Guys!" Usopp yelled.

" _What?!"_

Nami and Luffy turned from their argument and their eyes widened. Everyone stared in horror as Guertena's creations moved across the floor. The Red Lady and Blue Lady had burst from their frames, dragging themselves along with their hands. The mannequin heads were scooting along with bumps and chinks like glass on rock. The headless statues had raised their arms and clumped blindly along, bearing a striking resemblance to Frankenstein's monster. And the dolls, oddly enough, had risen up and floated along the floor with eerie cackles and heads turning at degrees impossible for humans.

"RUN!" Nami yelled. "But don't go off by yourself!"

"What?!" Franky yelled as they split off in different directions, forced to stay in the room as they dodged the malignant art. THe Red Lady caught Usopp by the ankle and he crashed to the floor with a shriek. One of the dolls floated close to his face and poked his nose. Tears of fear streamed down his cheeks.

Luffy angrily kicked the mannequin heads, forcing them to roll aside. He began wrestling with a headless statue when it tried to grab him from behind, punching it in the torso only to come away with a hurt hand, for he was flesh-and-bone here while his opponent was pure metal. Zoro was in a similar situation, trying to pin another statue to the floor.

Chopper, still perched upon Franky's shoulder, frantically batted away dolls which tried to climb up Franky's backside. Franky himself kicked aside a headless statue when it got too close for comfort.

Robin, remembering she had lost her powers, was forced to settle for picking up dolls which came near and tossing them elsewhere. Brook plucked off dolls which climbed up his bony frame and threw them aside, apologizing rather rudely as he did so.

And Nami—Nami was seized from behind by a blue headless statue. She screamed as she fell to the floor and struggled to escape from her captor. Creepy dolls surrounded her and crowded her body as the Blue Lady approached her quickly, too quickly, _how_ was she so fast with only her hands to drag her along with—?

"STOP!"

The assault abruptly ceased at this shout. Everything with a head turned to face the source while the headless ones turned their bodies. Within seconds, the Strawhats were released; the dolls, Ladies, statues, and mannequin heads backed away.

"Hey," Luffy said, straightening up and looking at the source of the shout. "You're . . ."

He glanced at Nami as the others slowly stood. "Nami. Is this him?"

Nami looked up. Her eyes widened and brimmed with happy tears. The man in front of them wore a nice black suit with matching shoes and a blue tie. His hair was blond, sleek, and combed over the left side of his face. His visible eye, unlike before, was open, and he looked around at everyone. Resting in his breast pocket was a dark blue rose.

Nami smiled.

"Sanji- _kun_!"


	3. A Lovely Little Tea Party

"Sanji- _kun_ , I'm so glad we found you," Nami said with a huge smile, standing quickly. "Listen, everyone's lost their memories of this place and you—I got mine back—we came to get you, so let's go!"

Sanji looked at her curiously, with none of the cries of happiness or "Nami- _san_ , my love, I missed you so" she'd been expecting.

"Sanji- _kun_?" Nami said, smile fading. "Is something wrong?"

Sanji sighed and smiled politely. "I'm sorry, but you must have me confused with someone else."

Nami froze.

"What . . . ?"

"That is . . ." Sanji scratched the back of his neck. "This _is_ the first time we've met, isn't it?" He glanced around at the others, who eyed him curiously.

"As far as I know," Zoro said at last when Nami did not respond.

"If you're not Sanji- _kun_ , who are you?" Nami challenged, her voice quavering with emotion.

Sanji smiled and gave her a short bow. "I'm afraid I don't have a name," he admitted, "though my painting is called _Forgotten Portrait_." He glanced to the side. "That's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? I don't mind being called Sanji, if you'd prefer."

"You look just like that painting," Usopp said in wonder.

Sanji's eyes lit up and he smiled broadly. "So you saw it! Isn't it wonderful? Father always does such a good job!" He looked off to the distance in thought. "Well, except for poor Mistake . . ."

"Father," Nami repeated.

"My—our—creator," Sanji explained, sweeping an arm out to gesture widely to the artworks. "Weiss Guertena, a brilliant man to have created such beautiful brothers and sisters!"

"Wonderful?" Franky repeated, folding his arms. "They were attacking us until you showed up."

"I'm sorry about that," Sanji said. "You must be humans—" He glanced at Chopper, Brook, Franky, and Usopp. "—Or at least, not one of us—"

"Hey," Usopp muttered.

"And my sisters tend to stubbornly chase those who don't belong," Sanji continued. "But I was in the other room just now . . ." He smiled. "I saw you and couldn't help but be curious. How did you come here and why?"

"Nami?" Luffy prompted, glancing at her. Sanji looked over expectantly.

Nami swallowed a lump in her throat. "We came here before," she said. "Our _friend_ , Sanji- _kun_ , was left behind, and we came to get him back."

"Oh, the one you mistook me for," Sanji said in understanding. He smiled gently. "I'm afraid I haven't seen anyone around here who looks like me, but I wish you the best of luck!"

"Thank you," Robin said after a moment with a polite smile.

"In fact, why don't we all have a tea party?" Sanji said, gesturing to the room he'd come out of, the door still ajar. "I was in the middle of setting one up when you arrived!"

"That . . . sounds like fun," Chopper said, eyeing Sanji warily.

"Doesn't it?" Sanji said, smiling. He looked around at the other artworks. "Would anyone like to join us?"

The dolls floated up to Sanji, surrounding him. The Ladies shook their heads, the headless statues stepped back, and the mannequin heads did nothing.

"Come, then," Sanji said, smiling fondly at the dolls. He picked a few up and they rode on his head and shoulders as he beckoned the Strawhats into the room. They followed apprehensively.

The room was smaller than the one they'd come from. On the opposite red wall was another door, and in the middle of the room was a round table of fair size with chairs set up all around it and empty teacups on saucers at each place—the teapot rested in the middle. On random spots of the room's walls were doodles of thorn-like blue spirals and curls. Below one of these spots was a palette with spots of blue paint covering up the other dried colors, and a paintbrush, its hairy tip covered in the stuff and still wet.

The Strawhats politely, albeit warily, sat around the table with the dolls. Nami kept a nervous eye on them. Meanwhile, Sanji picked up the teapot and went around the table, making as if to pour into each cup, though nothing flowed from the spout.

Finally, he did the same with his own cup and sat. He made a motion as if sipping from the cup and smiled, satisfied.

"Won't you drink up?" he asked, looking around. "It's not hot."

The others glanced around at each other and silently agreed to play along. One-by-one, they pretended to sip from their imaginary drink and cautiously complimented the taste.

Except that Zoro said bluntly, "It's alright, I guess."

Sanji glanced up with a little frown and Nami whipped her head around to stare at Zoro.

"What?" he said. "It's not that good. I've had better."

The dolls sipped from their cups in the silence. Eventually, Sanji smiled patiently.

"I'm sure I'll brew something better next time," he said without a trace of anger or affront.

"So, Sanji- _kun_ ," Nami said, gripping her cup's handle, "how long would you say you've been here?"

"Here?" Sanji asked. "In this room? Why, not long before and after you arrived!" He smiled gaily and took another sip.

"In the gallery."

Sanji tilted his head. "How should I know that? Ever since I was painted, I suppose, and for me, that's been my whole existence. I've read that outside this place there are things to keep track of how long something goes on, like the Sun and the Moon, but here we have nothing of the sort."

"How _do_ you keep track, then?" Robin asked, politely pretending to drink again.

"There's no need to," Sanji said with a giggle and a smile. "Too much trouble, isn't it?"

Nami stared into her empty cup, biting her lip in frustration, resisting the urge to tear her hair out.

"Oh, Nami," Luffy exclaimed suddenly. "Didn't you have something? You took it out in the gallery before."

"That's right!" Nami exclaimed, looking up. "I can't believe I forgot—Sanji- _kun_ , I have something of yours!"

She patted her shirt all over, feeling for the hard lump, but frowned when her fingers felt nothing but skin under the cloth. She felt again and again, even going so far as to briefly lift up her shirt, but there was just . . . nothing.

"It's gone," she whispered. "The lighter's gone!"

"Lighter?" Sanji exclaimed in sudden alarm, his visible eye widening. "Oh, no, that's no good at all! Dangerous things aren't allowed here, didn't you know?"

"Where is it?" Nami cried, looking at Sanji as if he knew. He smiled gently.

"One of my sisters must have taken it, clever things," he said fondly. "They'll give it to Trash eventually—that's what's done with dangerous things like that!"

Nami stared at him in horror and looked around at the dolls. Each of them looked up at her in turn, but none showed any sign of holding what she was looking for.

"I have . . . a proposition for you all," Sanji said eventually, looking around at them and smiling. "Why don't you stay here?"

"Come again?" Franky said. He hadn't touched his cup since his first pretend sip.

"You can stay with all of us," Sanji said, clasping his hands in his lap. "We haven't known each other for long, true, but I do like you! Everyone here is just like me, and so am I, of course! If you stay here, we can play games and have tea parties forever and ever, and you'll never have to worry about eating or sleeping!"

He sounded nearly giddy by the end.

"No," Luffy said. He glanced at Nami and, seeing her expression, nodded. "No. We're not staying."

Sanji's face fell almost comically. "Oh . . ."

"We need to return to our world," Nami said. "In fact . . . why don't _you_ come with _us_?"

The dolls twitched, glancing between Sanji and Nami. Sanji frowned as if he didn't quite understand.

"We can all be friends," Nami said. "And we can play just as many games in our world."

"I'm afraid I'll have to say no," Sanji said regretfully. "I love my home too much, and my family is here. Besides, I might get hurt out there!"

"What, like you can't get hurt in here?" Usopp muttered.

"I really can't," Sanji said. He stuck his arm out and something slid out of his sleeve into his hand: A palette knife. Gripping the handle, he sliced open his forearm.

Usopp, Chopper, and Brook cried out in shock. Luffy's, Robin's, and Franky's eyes widened, while Zoro's narrowed. It was a wonder Nami didn't break her teacup with how tightly she clenched it at that moment as she stared at Sanji in horror.

"This might be a bad wound for humans," Sanji explained as red paint spilled from the wound and leaked into the table, "but all I have to do is go back to my portrait and I'm good as new. If my portrait were damaged, it would be a different story, but that won't happen."

The Strawhats said nothing. Sanji took another sip from his teacup, red paint splattering onto the saucer.

"In any case," Sanji said, standing with a smile, the dolls floating over to him, "it's been wonderful meeting you, and I'm very sorry you all have to leave! Good luck finding your friend!"

Luffy nodded and Sanji left through the door opposite of where they'd come from, his doll friends floating along with him.

"He was totally nuts," Chopper whimpered as soon as Sanji had left. "The way he just—with the knife—!"

"What a weirdo," Franky muttered. "Hey, sis, you _sure_ he was on our crew?"

Everyone turned to Nami and found she had begun to cry again.

"Nami?" Usopp murmured.

"He _is_ on our crew," Nami whispered. "But that . . . that was him, but it wasn't . . ."

"Come again?" Zoro muttered.

"That had to have been Sanji- _kun_ ," Nami said. "But something's happened to him. It happened before . . ."

"What happened before?' Robin asked gently.

"We didn't notice," Nami said, staring into her teacup. "This place was driving him mad. We all split up, and he went into a room on his own, filled with those creepy dolls . . . when we found him again, he was talking to himself and laughing . . . it was so scary."

"So . . . he was already like that?" Chopper asked.

"No, he wasn't," Nami said, temper flaring as she finally looked up. "He was fine before we came here. This place wasn't good for him, and in the end . . . he got tricked into staying behind, and now he's . . ."

She trailed off.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Luffy asked.

Nami swallowed. "I don't know. I thought maybe . . . if we could get him to come back to the real world with us . . . he'd remember everything be—well, _normal_ again. But since he's like that, and he wants to stay here . . . I think we should find his painting."

"But isn't _he_ the painting?" Brook pointed out.

Nami shook her head. "He said something about going back to his portrait to heal. So it must be around here somewhere . . . the _Forgotten Portrait_."

"Okay," Luffy said, standing. "Let's go find it."

The others stood and left the room, abandoning their teacups and saucers. Outside, the artwork had mysteriously vanished, leaving the room empty.

"Two doors," Zoro said, glancing between the ones on the left and right. "Should we split up?"

"No!"

The others looked at Nami.

"Sorry," she murmured. "Look, the last time we split up . . . _that_ happened to Sanji- _kun_. I don't know if it'd happen to any of us, but we need to stick together if possible."

"I'm with Nami," Usopp agreed quickly. "We might never find each other again if we split up!"

Luffy shrugged. "Alright." He glanced at the door to their right. "That one's locked anyway, right?"

"Probably," Nami agreed. "There could be a key around here. Let's try the other door."

They found this one unlocked and trooped through. They ended up in a room the color of old raspberries. To the right was a vase on a small square table. Straight ahead was a fairly narrow hallway with just enough room for three to walk side-by-side, at the end of which was a switch on the wall. A plaque on the wall just before it read, "Beware the edges."

"A vase," Robin noted, glancing to their right.

"Let's save it, just in case," Nami said, checking her rose. "I only lost two petals, I'm fine. That reminds me . . . we need to keep an eye on everyone else's roses, not just our own."

"Why's that?" Zoro muttered.

"If your own rose withers, you might not see it," Nami explained.

"Withers?" Chopper said curiously.

"I'll explain in a bit," Nami said. "Let's take care of this room first."

* * *

Sanji finished healing his arm, smiled at the dolls, and lay on his back, picking up one in a green dress and holding it high above him, swooping it around like a child playing a game.

"I do wish they'd agreed to stay," he sighed. "I liked them! The red one, the orange one, the yellow one . . . they were so nice, and the first visitors I've seen here!"

The doll was silent for a moment. Then—

 _We can make them stay, if you want._

"Really?!" Sanji exclaimed, sitting up. Then he frowned. "Oh, but I don't want to make them do anything they don't want to!"

 _They'll want to stay eventually,_ a doll in a red dress insisted, clutching his arm. _They just don't know how great this place is! Once they see all the wonderful things, they'll want to stay here just as much as us!_

"Oh, of course!" Sanji exclaimed. "Who wouldn't?"

 _Naturally,_ a doll in a blue dress said on his left.

"So?" Sanji said in delight. "How can we make them stay?"

 _You saw the roses they carried, didn't you?_ The doll he was holding asked. _If you can get the roses and hide them from those people, they won't be able to leave!_

"That's wonderful!" Sanji exclaimed happily. "Oh, you're the best, all of you!"

 _But first we should separate the orange one from the others,_ the doll in the red dress said. The others chattered in agreement.

"Why's that?" Sanji asked, never doubting his friends, only curious.

 _She wants to take you away from us,_ the doll in blue exclaimed. _If she can sweet-talk her friends, they'll want to take you away, too!_

"Oh, dear," Sanji murmured. "I see what you mean. Okay, we'll take care of the orange one, and then I'll work on getting those roses!'

He smiled at the dolls and hugged them. Unseen by him, they smiled widely at one another.


	4. Taken

"We should pull the switch," Nami said, pointing to the lever at the end of the corridor. "If this place has the same mechanics as the last time, we'll need to find keys to locked doors, maybe solve some puzzles, and go down any staircases we find . . . that should all take us closer to the exit, and hopefully Sanji- _kun_ 's painting."

"It's almost like a game," Robin remarked.

"Sure, a twisted game of life-or-death," Usopp muttered. Robin nodded.

"Beware the edges," Nami muttered, reading the plaque. "Oh, right, the hands . . . I'll go. You guys stay here."

"Hands?" Chopper whimpered.

"Didn't you say no one should go alone?" Zoro reminded her.

Nami glanced down the corridor. "It's not far . . . but you're right, just in case . . . come with me."

Zoro grudgingly obliged. Nami led the way and he stuck close behind her, keeping an eye on the walls.

They were barely in when a shadowy hand sprouted from the wall to their right, snatching. Usopp, Chopper, and Brook shrieked.

"It can't get us when we're in the middle," Nami said as Zoro eyed the hand. "Stick close."

As they continued, more shadowy hands jumped out of the walls on either side; a veritable army wiggled and snatched at nothing by the time they reached the switch.

It was currently in the upright position. A small sign above it read, "The switch is on ON."

Nami pulled it down with a loud _CHUNK_. She glanced at the sign, which had changed to read, "The switch is now on OFF."

"Whoa, mystery wall!" Luffy exclaimed down the hall.

"There's a place to go now over this way," Franky called, pointing to their left, where a wall had once been.

"And the walls are thinner here," Zoro said. THe corridor had narrowed to a single-file gap.

"We'll run through," Nami said, eyeing the hands which were sure to grab at them. We can revive our roses at the end with the vase.

Zoro waited.

". . . You first."

Zoro got into position and darted down the hall, Nami close behind. They were scratched at as they ran, and they were halfway down when Nami screamed.

Zoro whipped around and saw Nami being seized by the shadow hands. They grabbed at her arms and legs, holding her tightly, dragging her close to the wall—a petal fluttered down from her rose—

"Nami!"

Zoro reached out for her, not caring about the remaining hands which scratched every inch of his arms, and he tried to pry the hands off, and then Luffy was beside him, yelling for Nami to hang on, and he helped too, but there were too many hands, hands, hands—

Before their helpless eyes, the wall opened up, and Nami was dragged into the blackness, her rose falling out from behind her ear and landing on the floor. They couldn't do a thing: The wall had closed, the hands all along it had vanished, and Nami was gone.

"NAMI!"

Luffy punched the wall in anger, forgetting he'd lost his inhuman strength.

"Give her _back!"_ he yelled. " _Give her back!"_

He slumped to his knees, his hands balled into fists. Zoro knelt, picked up Nami's rose, and made Luffy stand. They went back to the others, who were still staring in horror at the place Nami had vanished.

"What was that?" Usopp whispered. "N-Nami . . . she . . ."

"Where is she?" Chopper whimpered. "She's—she's okay, right?"

Zoro looked at Nami's rose, holding it between his fingers. They watched with bated breath, but it remained as it was.

"Wherever she went, she seems fine," Zoro said.

They sighed with relief.

"Here," Luffy said, holding out his hand. Zoro handed over the rose and Luffy strode to the vase, first placing Nami's rose in, and then gesturing to Zoro. Zoro placed his own rose inside, healing his scratches. This left no water for Luffy's rose, but he was not badly injured. He tucked Nami's rose in his pocket, nestled next to his.

"We've gotta find her," Franky said. "But where the hell did she go?"

"She's told us enough about this place," Robin said thoughtfully, glancing to where Nami had vanished. "She must have been taken to a different part of the gallery. I think there's a good chance we'll find her if we keep going."

"That makes sense," Brook agreed. "And if she _does_ get hurt . . ."

"We can heal her rose," Luffy completed with a nod.

Usopp gulped. "So . . . should we keep going, then . . . ?"

"Yeah," Luffy said, adjusting his hat. "No time to waste. Let's stick together like Nami said."

The Strawhats went down the passageway opened up by the lever. It was wide enough for at least two to walk shoulder-to-shoulder.

Turning right, they found a dead-end. A key the same color as the walls lay on the floor.

"That probably goes to the door in the other room," Zoro remarked as Luffy picked it up.

They turned around and headed back, keeping an eye out for enemies.

"Hey, Luffy," Usopp said as they went through the door and back into the large red room. "Why did we have to come here in the first place?"

Luffy and the others glanced at him without slowing pace. "What?"

"I mean," Usopp said nervously, "not that I'm doubting you or Nami or anything, and I know she said all that stuff about that Sanji guy, but what if she's lost it after all? You saw what that guy was like! Nothing good's happened since we came here—we lost our strength, we lost our way out—" He glanced to the place they'd originally come from, which had mysteriously been replaced with a wall. "—And now we've lost Nami! So why—?"

"Because Nami was crying."

Luffy fumbled with the key as he spoke. "Back then," he continued, trying to figure out how to work it, "I promised old man pinwheel I wouldn't take her smile away. I know I didn't do anything, but I hate seeing her sad. If it'll make her smile again, we're gonna find that Sanji guy and drag him back to the ship, even if none of us know who he is."

Robin held out her hand and Luffy sheepishly gave her the key. She easily unlocked the door.

"But first," Luffy said as they walked through, "we've gotta find Nami. She's the only one who seems to know what's going on."

Usopp nodded in understanding. The group entered the door and went down a long, twisting passageway with slime-green walls. Finally, they ended up at yet another door with a sign above it.

"'Mirror Maze?'" Luffy read aloud. He grinned. "Sounds like fun!"

The others looked apprehensive.

"Stick together," Robin reminded them as they entered. "Who knows what could happen if we separate?"


	5. Keep Quiet, Now!

Nami was dragged into the blackness by the hands, and the last thing she saw before the wall closed was Luffy and Zoro, yelling for her to hang on, reaching out to her—

Darkness.  
Silence.

The shadow hands finally released their prize and Nami ran forward blindly, only to be seized by yet another pair—yet these didn't feel like the shadow hands . . .

"If you cooperate, this will be much easier for both of us."

One of the hands covered her mouth, and so Nami could not cry out "Sanji- _kun_!" like she wanted to.

She was dragged through the blackness, totally blind. A door opened and Nami shut her eyes as painful light suddenly flooded her vision.

Once her eyes had adjusted, she looked around and inhaled sharply through her nose. The room was about half the size of where the crew had been attacked by the artwork. In a corner near the ceiling grew a patch of blue roses. The ceiling, walls, and floor were the color of rotting blueberries and the room was filled with those damn _dolls_ , sitting around innocently.

The hands finally released her and Nami gasped, turning around to face Sanji, who smiled.

"Sanji- _kun_ , what is this about?" she demanded. "Whatever happened to not being rough with ladies?"

Sanji frowned slightly at this. "I'm not sure what you mean, but I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Well . . ." Sanji said slowly, stepping towards her (she took a step back), 'it would be a bit of a problem for me if you stayed with the others. You see—how did you put it?" he asked, looking at one of the dolls.

He cocked his head, and though Nami could not hear what the doll said, Sanji smiled and nodded. "Yes, that was it—if you managed to convince the others to take me away, that would be troublesome, for I have no desire to leave. So . . ."

He glanced at her, and then back to the dolls. "Her rose must be with the others. Is it necessary to get it, or . . . ? No, I suppose not. In any case . . . restrain her, will you?"

Nami bolted for the door, but Sanji flung up a leg to stop her; she seized it and bit into his ankle, drawing red paint, but he merely frowned, only minorly inconvenienced. Meanwhile, the dolls surrounded her legs and climbed up her body, grabbing her arms and pinning them to her side, forcing her towards the wall; she was pushed up against it and could not escape their clutches no matter how much she struggled.

"Again, this will be a lot easier if you just cooperate," Sanji said gently. He looked up at the rose patch and motioned to it. Nami looked up to see rose vines snaking down from the patch, coming for her. They wrapped themselves tightly around her arms, the thorns cutting into her skin and drawing blood, and drew them out on either side of her like a crucifixion. THe dolls finally released her as more vines coiled around her legs, binding her to the wall in a sick parody of some kind of horror literature.

She struggled, ignoring the stabbing thorns, and when she was unable to escape she opened her mouth and screamed, "LU—"

"No, no . . ."

Sanji's hand covered her mouth, cutting her off.

"I can't have you yelling like that," he said regretfully. "If they were to come near here, they would hear you."

Nami glared at him. She wanted to bite the hand covering her mouth, but . . .

" _Hands are the most important thing to a cook. I can't risk injuring them."_

As she faltered, Sanji tapped his chin with his other hand, staring at her thoughtfully. "We should do something about that mouth of yours . . . I have places to be, and, as much as I'd like to spend time with you, none of those places are here."

He looked around at the dolls. "Anyone have any ideas?"

One of them floated forward, holding something up. Sanji looked down and his eyes lit up.

"Oh, this is perfect!" he exclaimed. He knelt and took the items with his free hand, holding them up to eye level.

Nami's eyes widened. It was a spool of thread and a long sewing needle.

"Now you'll look just like them!" he said, smiling in delight. Two dolls climbed up Sanji and jumped to Nami, one on each shoulder. They grabbed her cheeks and pulled, stretching out her lips and pressing them together as Sanji removed his hand and threaded the needle.

"There we go," he murmured as he finally got it and tied the end of the thread around the eye. Tears of fear spilled down Nami's cheeks as he brought the threaded needle to her mouth and pierced just below the corner of her bottom lip. He pushed it upwards through the soft flesh and then through her upper lip, letting it escape through the skin above. He tugged on the thread, leaving plenty for the rest of the stitches, and Nami cringed as she felt it sliding through her skin.

Sanji hummed a tuneless song as he brought the thread down over the top of Nami's lips and continued his stitching in the same fashion. Tears of fear and pain continued to slide down her face along with the occasional droplet of blood oozing out from whatever new puncture was made on her lips.

Finally, Sanji reached his starting point, the stitches neatly crisscrossed in an X pattern. He snapped off the thread and cast the needle aside, tying off the stitches.

"There we go!" he said happily, throwing the spool over his shoulder. The dolls on Nami's shoulders released her, her mouth now sewn tightly shut. She struggled to open it and grunted, but no words could escape her lips now. She stared at Sanji pleadingly as he surveyed his work.

"Much better," he mused. Smiling at the dolls, he said, "Would you make sure she doesn't leave?"

He turned to a door which certainly hadn't been there before. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things to collect . . ."


	6. Reflections

"Geez . . . the others got lost again."

Zoro scratched his head, looking around as his many reflections in the mirror maze copied his movements from various angles.

He sighed. "They're hopeless. Guess I'll run into them if I keep moving."

He turned to the left and immediately ran into a dead end. He almost bumped into the mirror at the end, but quickly stopped himself and looked his reflection up and down.

Zoro looked a bit weary in the mirror—of course, one would expect this, after losing his strength, a precious crewmate to who-knows-where, and now being utterly lost in a maze. Yet his reflection smiled, as if to say everything would be okay.

Naturally, Zoro found this a bit unnerving, for he did not smile back.

* * *

Luffy looked around, slightly disgruntled at having lost sight of his friends. He looked down at the roses in his pocket. A petal fluttered down from the orange one.

"Nami . . ." he murmured. He straightened his hat and moved on, only to run straight into a dead-end.

"Ow," he muttered, feeling his nose. He looked at his reflection and jumped when he saw it smiling at him.

"Wow . . . mystery mirror!"

Luffy looked at his reflection in delight as it refused to copy his movements, his momentary concern at being separated from his friends gone for the time being.

"Can you talk?" he eagerly asked his reflection, which folded its arms.

"I see that your friends aren't here."

"You _can_ talk," Luffy said, his eyes shining. "Yeah, they aren't here, but we'll regroup soon!"

"How can you be so sure?" the reflection asked.

"Cause there's gotta be a way out of this maze," Luffy said, grinning. "And we'll meet up there eventually!"

"What if they get there before you?"

Luffy shrugged. "I dunno. They probably will, actually . . ." he grinned sheepishly. "I don't have much of a sense for directions."

"You misunderstand me," his reflection said. "What I mean is . . . what if they get there before you do, and decide to leave without you?"

"Why would they do that?" Luffy asked, his smile fading.

"Perhaps they have no need for a useless captain."

* * *

Chopper slowly backed away from his reflection in the mirror as it stared at him, not backing up itself.

"A . . . A demon?" he whimpered.

His reflection grinned. He screamed and ran, only to hit a dead end, where he was met again with that reflection.

"Um . . . uh . . ." he said frantically. "D . . . Demon begone! Demon . . . begone . . ."

"There's someone who wants to talk to you!" his reflection exclaimed with shining eyes. "Did you know?"

"Someone—who?" Chopper said, caught off-guard.

His reflection wavered and vanished. For a moment there was nothing reflected in the mirror, but then—

The glass seemed to quiver. A tall figure materialized in the mirror and stepped out. Chopper shrieked in surprise and covered his head.

"Chopper . . ."

Chopper gasped. That voice—it couldn't be?

"Chopper, m'boy, how've you been? I hope Kureha wasn't too hard on you all those years?" A chuckle. "Ah, who am I kidding . . . I'm impressed you survived her training. That woman's a witch, I'll tell you what . . ."

Chopper slowly looked up. His eyes watered.

A black top hat, much like his own. Wild gray hair on either side of his head. A mismatched outfit under a black cloak. Bowlegs. A gentle smile.

"Doctor . . . ?"

Doctor Hiriluk grinned. "Chopper!"

"Doctor!" Chopper cried. "Doctor, I missed you so much—I—Doctor!"

Hiriluk knelt and Chopper leapt upon him in a great hug, crying his eyes out.

"Hey now, no need for tears," Hiriluk murmured. "You're a man, aren't you?"

Chopper sniffled. "D-Doctor . . . I can't believe you're here . . ."

Hiriluk hugged him tightly. Chopper closed his eyes in the warmth of the familiar embrace.

"Oh, Chopper . . ." Hiriluk said softly. "Why did you have to kill me?"

* * *

"Perhaps they hate you."

"They don't."

"Perhaps you _have_ become a burden to them, after all."

Robin gritted her teeth. Her reflection seemed to enjoy taunting her. "I haven't."

"Why would they keep you around?" her reflection mused with that enigmatic smile. "No pirate ship needs an archaeologist or historian. They have no real use for you."

"No pirate ship needs a musician either, but we have Brook."

Her reflection's smile twitched as if perturbed, but then it returned. "You're nothing but a useless burden, aren't you? One day they will become bored of you and cast you aside like an old toy, played with one too many times."

Briefly the image in the mirror flickered and displayed something interesting: The crew, all with shadowed faces, turning their backs on Robin, who cried out to them in vain as they left her on the ground.

The mirror flickered again and Robin's evil reflection was back with that smile.

"You know it will happen. Leave them first and save yourself the pain."

* * *

"He would still be here if it weren't for you."

"Shut up."

"You're a fool for making that mistake."

"I said shut it, mirror demon."

"I am _you_."

"I haven't told myself those things in years," Franky snapped, pausing in his stride to glare at his reflection. "You ain't me. Just 'cause you can read my memories doesn't mean a thing."

His reflection grinned. "Maybe so. Let's see what Tom- _san_ thinks."

Franky narrowed his eyes. His reflection wavered and vanished to be replaced by Tom the fishman.

Franky's eyes widened slightly. "Tom- _san_ . . ."

Tom smiled. "Hey, Franky! Or have you started using Cutty Flam again?"

"No, it's still Franky—" Franky paused and glowered. "You aren't Tom- _san_."

"Hm?"

"I said you ain't him, mirror-demon."

The image of Tom chuckled. "Oh, Franky, still as suspicious as ever! Remember back then, when you thought Iceburg had stolen your lunch, and it turned out you'd eaten it and forgotten?"

Franky faltered for a moment before glaring again. "Stop using his face, mirror-demon."

"And at first you didn't want to work on the train, but you joined us eventually," the image of Tom said wistfully. "We got her finished with hardly a hitch! It took ten years, but . . ."

"I said cut it out."

"Oh, and then the Government came!" Tom exclaimed. "They used your ships to attack Iceburg and me . . ."

As he spoke, a bloodstain appeared on his torso, growing larger. It was exactly where the harpoon had struck all those years ago.

". . . all because you were careless enough to leave them lying around!" Tom finished, grinning, apparently not noticing the blood. "Isn't that right? Wasn't it your fault?"

"I'm getting really tired of this play," Franky said angrily.

"Of course, they accused us," Tom continued. "We were attacked . . ."

More bloodstains and cuts appeared on his body.

". . . I couldn't very well let them take you and Iceburg away!" the image exclaimed. "So I was dragged off to that place of justice, Enies Lobby! And do you know what happened after that?"

Franky's jaw tightened.

"They chopped my head off," Tom said. A thin line of blood on his neck appeared and slowly dripped down. "Chopped it right off, just like a trout. Don't you worry, I hardly felt a thing."

Franky gritted his teeth.

The image of Tom smiled. "Ready to admit it? That it was all your fault my head got chopped off?"

* * *

Brook looked at his reflection curiously. He had studied himself in the mirror many times over after he'd had his shadow returned to him, but never had he had this sense. Though he had no lips, he had the funniest feeling his reflection would have been smiling if it had the capability, despite the fact that he himself would have been frowning if he was able.

"Perhaps it is my imagination," he murmured to himself. "In any case, I should hurry and find Luffy- _san_ and the others . . ."

"What's the rush?"

Brook slowly turned back to his reflection, once again getting the feeling it was smiling at him.

"Who?" he whispered.

"Me," the reflection said. "Or perhaps, you."

Brook straightened up, adjusted his hat, brushed himself off, and screamed.

"Now, now, there's no need for that," his reflection said calmly.

"What are you?" Brook demanded after catching his breath.

"Your reflection. I suppose I am you," the reflection said thoughtfully. "Your thoughts, memories, emotions, dreams . . . I know them all."

Brook hid his shiver. "And what of it?"

"Laboon."

"What about him?"

"You know he thinks you're not returning."

Brook chuckled. "Well, I _am_ dead. I thought you would've known that, Reflection- _san_ , considering we look exactly alike. I must admire your wardrobe choices."

"No, no . . ." his reflection said idly. "Crocus- _san_ was, most unfortunately, on the receiving end of certain . . . misinformation."

"Oh?"

"Indeed. He believes you and your crew cowards, ones who fled the Grand Line fearing for your own lives without a second thought for him or your whale of a charge."

"That isn't true," Brook said immediately. "Surely not. Crocus- _san_ wouldn't believe such . . ."

He trailed off. His reflection stared at him and surely would have smiled if it could have.

"And Laboon thinks the same," it continued. "He didn't want to believe it, and he was so frustrated he began slamming his own head against the rock of the Red Line."

"No."

"Oh, yes. Over and over, hurting more and more each time, but nothing could compare to the pain of losing his friends . . ."

"Stop this, Reflection- _san_."

"His scars are deep, mentally and physically." The mirror wavered to show Laboon, crying out to the red sky in pain, thick jagged scars crisscrossing his head—

"I asked you to stop," Brook said, his empty eyes fixed upon his old friend.

The image wavered again and his reflection returned with that mysterious not-smile. "Can you even face him after all this pain you've put him through?"

* * *

Usopp backed away from his smiling reflection, only to bump into another mirror, which showed the same image when he turned around. He shrieked and looked around frantically.

"Wh-What's going on?" he said shakily.

"Don't be scared."

He froze and stared at one of the mirrors, where his smiling image stood.

"There's someone here who's just dying to see you," his reflection said quietly.

"Who?" Usopp whispered.

His reflection smiled, wavered, and vanished. It was replaced with a figure about half Usopp's height. The figure was wearing a brown hooded cloak, its face hidden in shadow. Dirty rainboots were on its feet and a wooden hammer was in its right hand. It looked up at Usopp and a faint smile was visible beneath the shadows.

Usopp's eyes watered.

"Hi, Usopp."

The figure spoke in a childlike voice. It giggled. "I've missed you. You and everyone."

Usopp gulped. "M . . . Merry . . . ?"

Merry's spirit grinned. "You got it right! You _do_ recognize me!"

"Merry . . ." Usopp whispered as he knelt down, tears now streaming from his eyes, "I . . . how could I ever forget?"

Merry smiled at him in the mirror. "You wouldn't have to if you'd been a better shipwright."

Usopp froze. "What?"

Merry kicked at the ground and looked down. "Well . . ." came the murmur. "If you'd been a better shipwright . . . I wouldn't have . . ."

The voice trailed off. The spirit flickered and was abruptly replaced with a ship, a burning ship, a burning ship with a lamb figurehead—

"No!" Usopp cried, leaping up and turning away. He gasped when he saw in the mirror behind him that same image of Merry burning, burning, burning up—

"NO!" Usopp screamed, making a run for it, the image of his friend's funeral following him around every corner. "No, I'm sorry, Merry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry _sorry sorry sorry SORRY_ —"

" _I'm sorry_ ," the images whispered, the fire crackling. " _I wanted to go on more adventures._ "

"No, Merry, I'm the one who's sorry, please stop showing me this, stop, stop it, just stop, I can't take it, please stop, stop it, stop it, Luffy, _where's Luffy_ —"

" _You fought over me. What a pointless battle. The outcome would have been the same, but you had to leave the crew. Usopp, did you know? I cried during that battle. I hate seeing my friends fight, but you and Luffy fought, and he left you bleeding on the ground—_ "

"STOP IT! Just stop!" Usopp screamed, clutching his head as he barrelled through the passageways. "STOP! I'M BEGGING YOU! MERRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SO SORRY, I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry _sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry_

* * *

"I think I can, yes. Face him, that is."

Brook's reflection tilted its head. "Come again?"

Brook squared his shoulders resolutely. "If my supposed cowardice or death—permanent death, that is—happens to be the source of his pain, wouldn't showing up after all these years help him heal, if only a little bit?"

His reflection stared.

"I cannot heal his physical scars, nor can I possibly make up for all those lost years," Brook said, passing a hand over his empty chest. "But if we can see each other again . . . it would be a start. Yes, I think it would be a start."

"You really think that—"

"Yes," Brook interrupted. "And besides, with Luffy- _san_ , I should be able to return in . . . oh, perhaps a year or two, give or take. Surely I can beg that Crocus- _san_ and Laboon wait just a bit longer?"

His reflection wavered and was replaced with his own. Brook could tell.

He straightened his hat and looked around.

"That's taken care of, then," he murmured. "Onwards."

He had only taken a few steps when he felt wetness upon his face. Raising a skeletal hand, he brushed his bony cheek and studied his fingers.

"Tears?" he said quietly. "But . . . I am a skeleton, and I have no tear ducts . . ."

He chuckled and wiped at his eyes. "In any case, I need to keep moving."

* * *

"Yeah, I'll admit it."

The bloody image of Tom stared at Franky. "What was that?"

Franky shrugged and scratched the back of his neck unconcernedly. "It kind of was my fault, wasn't it? But there's no point in getting worked up about it. It was so many years ago. Besides, I've already beaten myself up about it, and I don't feel like doing it again."

The image of Tom flickered.

"And if you'll give me a moment, I'll say what I wanted to say to Tom- _san_ back then, even though you aren't him." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Tom- _san_. I was a real dimwit back then, and I still am. I'm more careful now, and I've got good friends to watch my back."

The image flickered and grew less opaque.

"Stupid-burg's doing okay. He's the mayor now. Who would've thought, huh? That little twerp . . . everyone loves him and respects the hell outta him. Including me, of course." Franky grinned sheepishly. "By the way, I destroyed those blueprints you left me. Extenuating circumstances, you understand."

The image began to fade.

"And I met Nico Robin. She's not the demon that the Government would have you think. She's real strong and a great friend." Franky folded his arms and smirked. "And I'm aboard the future Pirate King's ship, which I'll have you know I designed myself. Guess the next generation is taking over."

Franky turned away as the image vanished. "Smell ya later, Tom- _san_."

As he strode away, he muttered to himself, "I'm _not_ crying. Shut up . . . stupid . . ."

* * *

"No, thank you."

"Pardon?" Robin's reflection asked, startled.

"I've already tried that, you see," Robin explained. "It turns out you can't leave a ship without the captain's permission."

Her reflection glowered. "So get his permission."

"Something tells me he would refuse to grant it," Robin said calmly. "Luffy is that kind of man."

"I'm telling you, one day they will tire of your company," her reflection snarled, though it flickered in the glass.

"I'll make sure they won't," Robin retorted. "And besides . . ." she smiled. "If I weren't around, who would remember to water the flowers every day?"

The evil reflection flickered and vanished, to be replaced with Robin's real reflection. She was smiling softly, and her eyes were wet.

Realizing this, she quickly wiped at her eyes and turned down the hall of mirrors.

"I do hope Luffy and the others aren't lost for good," she murmured to herself as she started on her way again.

* * *

Chopper's eyes snapped open. "What?" he whimpered, wriggling out of the embrace and backing up.

"I would still be here if it weren't for you," the image of Hiriluk said sadly, looking at Chopper. "You weren't careful, and that mushroom killed me."

"You . . ." Chopper gulped and started crying again. "You . . . Doctor . . . you blew yourself up before it killed you."

"You know it would have been the mushroom if not that," Hiriluk said gently, smiling sadly. "It tasted horrible, too."

Chopper sat down hard and stared at the ground.

"And I could have lived just a bit longer, even with my illness, if it weren't for that mushroom," Hiriluk continued, patting Chopper's shoulder.

Chopper wiped at his tears and gritted his teeth, gathering his resolve. "You aren't Doctor. Doctor would never say such things."

"What's that?" Hiriluk said slowly. "Now, Chopper, don't be so silly."

"No," Chopper said, slowly standing. "You're . . . you're just a copy. And—and you're a really _bad_ copy, too! 'Cause no matter what . . . the real Doctor wouldn't have blamed me for that!"

"Of course he would," the image of Hiriluk snapped. "It was your fault, after all."

"I didn't know any better back then," Chopper cried. "I didn't know, and I'm so sorry, but I can't get stuck on the past! I'm with Luffy now, and he's shown me the way forward! He even helped bring the cherry blossoms back to Drum!"

The image of Hiriluk flickered.

"I'm not gonna listen to your lies anymore!" Chopper exclaimed. "So . . . go away! Demon, begone!"

The image finally vanished. Chopper wiped away his remaining tears and tried not to cry again. He looked at the mirror and saw his own real reflection looking back at him.

And then he noticed something alarming.

"Where's my rose?!"

* * *

"Useless?" Luffy said. "What're you on about, mirror-me?"

His reflection smiled. "Let's ask your crewmates."

The image flickered and was replaced with Brook.

"What a silly, ridiculous man."

Franky.

"Honestly, guy's got no sense. No sense at all."

Robin.

"Luffy's become a real burden, hasn't he?"

Chopper.

"I dunno if I wanna be on the same ship as him anymore."

Usopp.

"Not strong. Not strong at all."

Nami.

"He couldn't even save me . . ."

As her image vanished in a mass of shadow hands, an image of Zoro appeared and looked directly at Luffy.

"You're not fit to be captain," he said. "If you don't shape up and actually do your job, one day we'll all just . . . disappear."

And his image popped out of existence like a bubble. Soon Luffy's evil reflection returned, smiling.

"Don't you see?" it said sweetly. "Your friends don't really care about you at all. They're going to abandon you here."

Luffy grinned back. "Wow, you're even dumber than me, mirror-me."

His reflection blinked, its smile fading.

"My friends would never say that stuff!" he exclaimed, laughing. "You might know what they look like, but you really don't know them at all, do you?"

His reflection scowled and flickered.

"Yeah . . . you don't know us at all," Luffy said, his laughter dying down, though his confident smile remained. "My friends will never leave my side. That's why we're all together. We might have lost each other in this stupid maze, but they sure as hell aren't just gonna up and disappear from my side one day." He grinned. "I guess they can do that if they want when their dreams are fulfilled, but until then, we're sticking together."

His evil mirror counterpart vanished and was replaced with Luffy's real reflection. Luffy sighed and suddenly stared in alarm when he noticed something missing.

"My rose?" he cried, looking at his pocket. "Where's my rose?"

He looked around frantically, but found it nowhere.

"Damn it," he muttered. "And Nami told us to keep an eye on them, no matter what . . ."

His hand brushed over Nami's orange rose, still safe in his pocket.

"At least her rose is safe," he muttered. "Hang in there, Nami."

He strode away from the dead-end. "Now to find the others . . ."

* * *

"It wasn't my fault," Zoro said firmly, glowering at his smiling reflection. "I'm not discussing this with some demon."

"You know, if you hadn't asked her to fight, she wouldn't have needed the sharpening stone," his reflection reminded him. "And if she hadn't need the sharpening stone—"

"—She wouldn't have died, yeah, I know," Zoro snapped. "Like I said, I'm not discussing this. Maybe I had an accidental hand in it, but I'm over it. I'm carrying on her legacy, and it's not like I can change the damn past. Leave me the hell alone."

His reflection vanished. Zoro sighed and stared at his own image once more, and then jumped and whipped around when he saw a pale hand reaching for his rose.

Sanji blinked and withdrew his hand quickly. "Fancy seeing you here, green one," he said innocently.

"Drop the act, painting," Zoro snapped. "The hell do you think you're doing?"

Sanji shrugged and looked away. "Just . . . wanted a look at that rose."

"I don't think so," Zoro said coldly. "I don't know what you want with my rose, but there's no way I'm letting you—"

As Sanji shifted his arms, Zoro caught a flash of something red inside his jacket.

"Hey," he said slowly. "What's that?"

"What's what, now?"

"In your jacket."

"I don't know what you—"

"Don't play fucking dumb, you shitty painting, show me that red thing in your jacket," Zoro snapped, losing what little patience he had left.

Sanji slowly took it out. "You mean this?"

He idly twirled Luffy's red rose between his pale fingers. Zoro stared at him, his expression dark.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded coldly.

Sanji smiled. "The red one was a bit distracted, and this rose caught my eye . . . I couldn't help myself. You understand."

"What do you want with our roses?" Zoro asked angrily, knowing he could not risk attacking the blond painting so long as he had Luffy's rose hostage.

Sanji shrugged. "Hm . . . they're pretty to look at? I'm not going to hurt them, if that's what you're so concerned about."

Zoro scowled. "Give it here."

"Mm?"

Zoro held out his hand. "Give me his rose."

Sanji frowned and held it out of reach. "Why should I do that?"

"I can't let you hold our captain's life in your hands. Give. It. Here."

"That doesn't seem very fair," Sanji murmured, twirling the rose between his fingers. "To give you this with nothing in return . . ."

He looked at Zoro. "You really want this?"

Zoro looked at him impatiently.

"Then . . ." Sanji smiled. "How about trading your rose?"

Zoro stiffened.

"Red's a nice color and all," Sanji said slowly, "but green's nice, too. Not my favorite, but close." He gave Zoro that enigmatic smile again. "So how about it?"

Zoro gritted his teeth. "That's . . ."

 _I can't possibly refuse . . ._

"Understood," he said, taking his rose out of his _haramaki_. "Please, give me Luffy's rose in exchange for mine."

Sanji grinned like a child who'd just received candy. He slowly gave Zoro Luffy's rose as he took Zoro's green rose.

"Yay!" he exclaimed happily, examining it. "What a pretty flower . . ."

"Get out of here, unless you're planning to give back my rose," Zoro snapped.

Sanji bowed graciously, turned, and pulled out one of the mirrors like a door. Zoro followed and saw him step into a dark passageway.

"Today's a good day," the painting said to himself. "I get _two_ roses!"

Zoro froze. "Two?"

Sanji turned and opened his jacket with a sly grin to reveal Chopper's pink rose nestled next to Zoro's green one. Zoro lunged, but the mirror was already swinging shut, and slammed against the wall. He pulled at it, but it refused to budge. In a blind rage he swung his fist at it and the glass shattered, revealing nothing behind it but a wall.

Zoro stood there for a moment, breathing hard. Eventually he composed himself, straightened, tucked Luffy's rose into his _haramaki_ , and went on his way, his hand dripping blood.


	7. The Peaceful Room

Usopp was the first out of the maze. He stumbled through a door and into a room the color of old pus. It had a staircase going down and a door.

He sat down and stared at the opposite wall blankly.

The next out was Franky. He looked around and spotted Usopp.

"Hey, Bro Usopp," he said, grinning. "Think the others will be out soon?"

Usopp sighed. "How should I know?"

Franky shrugged. "Fair point," he said. He went to the staircase and looked down it.

The third and fourth ones were Brook and Chopper. Brook carried Chopper on his shoulder.

"Good evening, you two," Brook said, setting Chopper down. "If it is still evening . . ."

"I haven't seen a single clock since we got in here, so it doesn't matter," Franky said.

Chopper ran over to Usopp. He looked at him in surprise as Chopper hugged him around the middle.

"What?" he said.

"I'm glad you're okay," Chopper said in a muffled voice. Usopp pushed Chopper off of him and turned away without a word. Chopper looked hurt, but then . . .

Robin was the fifth to come through. Chopper turned to her and jumped up on her in a hug, and she smiled and hugged him back.

"You're okay, too," he said happily.

"Mm," Robin said, patting his head gently. He got off of her after a moment.

The sixth was Luffy. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw most of his friends in the room.

"Hey," he said cheerfully.

The others greeted him happily, except for Usopp, who just mumbled a greeting as he barely looked at Luffy.

Finally, Zoro entered the room. He was casually concealing the flower in his _haramaki_ with a hand.

"Of course you'd be last," Franky remarked. Zoro glowered at him.

Chopper gasped. "Zoro, your hand!"

Zoro's hand was dripping blood. "It's nothing," he muttered.

Chopper quickly ran forward and wrapped up his hand in a bandage from his backpack.

Robin crossed the room to the door and peeked inside. "This looks like a safe room," she called. "We can rest in here."

The others came inside cautiously. In the room was a white couch with an odd black and red design on the top, a bookshelf in one corner and a small table with a vase in another, and a painting hanging on the far wall, with the title, _Serpent's Spirit_. It was a small abstract piece.

"This looks nice," Luffy said cheerfully.

Franky looked behind the couch and yelled out in shock. The others came around and saw two dolls on the floor (Usopp jumped). When the dolls spotted the Strawhats, they cackled and flew out of the room. Luffy slammed the door shut behind them.

"They dropped something," Franky said. He knelt and picked up the object.

It was a lighter.

"Hey," Luffy said slowly, coming over. "That's . . . that's the lighter Nami had earlier. She said it belonged to that Sanji guy."

Franky flicked it on and a flame leapt up. Snapping it shut, he muttered, "Still has oil."

Usopp sat down against the wall. Zoro, Luffy, and Robin took the couch. Brook and Franky sat on the floor, and Chopper jumped into Robin's lap, throwing a worried glance at Usopp.

"So . . ." Robin said as Franky dropped the lighter into his shirt pocket, next to his rose. "Luffy, Chopper . . . were you two going to tell us where your roses are?"

Luffy and Chopper looked at each other.

"Your rose, too?!" Chopper cried.

Luffy groaned. "Wow, this sucks! I dunno what happened . . . I was . . ."

He frowned. "Wait . . . did we all see . . . that mirror thing? The reflection demon thing . . ."

The others looked uncomfortable.

"I think so," Robin said, looking around. "That was a pain to deal with."

Chopper hugged her tightly, trying to hold back tears. She patted his head.

". . . Anyway," Luffy said, "I was distracted by mirror-me, and when it vanished, I realized my rose was gone. Luckily Nami's is safe."

"Same here," Chopper said, nodding. "The demon was distracting me, and when Doc—when _it_ vanished, I realized my rose was gone."

Zoro took his hand off the rose in his _haramaki_ and tapped Luffy's shoulder. Luffy turned and his eyes widened when he saw what Zoro had.

"My rose!" he exclaimed, taking it gently. "So it was safe after all!" He looked up at Zoro, grinning. "Where'd you find this?"

He tucked it back into his pocket, next to Nami's. Zoro sighed. "It was that painting."

The others looked up in surprise.

"That Sanji guy?" Franky said.

Zoro nodded. "He was taking my rose when I turned around. I was too late to stop him, and I couldn't attack him, not when he had it hostage . . ."

Luffy frowned.

"He said that he wanted our roses, but that he wouldn't hurt them," Zoro said. "Chopper, you and I are fine, so I think he was telling the truth about that, at least."

"And my rose?" Luffy asked slowly.

"Stupid bastard dropped it as he was leaving, so I grabbed it," Zoro said. "Chopper, I'm sorry. By the time I realized he had your rose, too, it was too late." He flexed his bandaged hand. "I kind of lost my temper with the mirror he went into."

"It's okay," Chopper said quietly.

Luffy frowned again, brushing his fingers over his rose and looking at Zoro oddly. Zoro noticed and looked at the ground, muttering, "What?"

". . . Thanks for getting my rose," Luffy said at last, and though it was clear there was more he wanted to say, he stopped there.

"Anyway," Robin said, "there's something odd. Why wasn't Nami's rose taken?"

"Perhaps one rose was enough?" Brook suggested lamely.

Robin shook her head. "He now has Zoro's and Chopper's roses. It's clear he's trying to get the rest. Why wouldn't he take Nami's along with Luffy's?"

". . . Couldn't be . . ." Franky muttered. "What if . . . he has her?"

"What?" Usopp asked, looking up.

"What if he's trying to collect our lives?" Franky asked slowly. "And if he already has Sis locked up somewhere . . . he wouldn't need her rose, right?"

Usopp put a hand to his head. "That's . . . no way . . ." he muttered something under his breath and went silent again.

"Makes sense," Luffy said slowly. He groaned. "This is bad . . ."

"Her rose is fine, right?" Robin asked.

Luffy glanced at it. "It's only lost one petal, so I think she's okay."

"And we can put that in a vase if it loses more," Zoro said. He glanced at the vase. "Speaking of which . . ."

"I'm fine," Robin said.

"Same here," Franky said.

"I'm good," Luffy said, glancing at his rose.

"I haven't lost a single petal," Brook said cheerfully.

Usopp didn't say anything.

"Usopp?" Chopper said. "Your rose?"

He jumped to the ground and went over to Usopp, examining the yellow rose. He frowned. "You do need a vase."

"What?" Usopp said. "I haven't lost any petals."

"But look," Chopper said. "The center's withered."

He took out Usopp's rose and hurried over to the vase, placing it inside. The others watched curiously, but nothing happened.

"That's weird," Chopper said. "It's not healing."

He took it out. "It's still withered in the middle."

Usopp got up and took a look. "What are you talking about? It's fine. It's healthy."

"No, it's withered," Robin agreed. A section of Usopp's rose in the center was dark, dry, and brittle, about a centimeter across.

"Definitely withered," Zoro agreed.

Usopp took a closer look and glowered. "I get it, this is a prank," he snapped. "Well, it's not funny. My rose is fine."

He snatched it from Chopper and tucked it back into his pocket, not noticing the little reindeer's surprised and hurt expression.

The others glanced around.

"What?" Usopp muttered.

"Nothing," Zoro said, eyeing him.

"Luffy," Robin said. "I was thinking . . ."

Luffy looked up at her.

"I know that Nami believes this Sanji guy was a part of our crew," she said slowly. "And I know you want to make her happy again."

Luffy nodded.

"But the fact is," Robin continued, "none of us remember meeting him before today, and it seems he doesn't know who we are, either. Since he's after our roses, we need to think of him as an enemy."

Luffy hesitated, and then nodded again with a sigh. "You're right. He's definitely not on our side in all this."

"We'll ask Nami- _san_ about it when we find her," Brook said. "And speaking of which . . . should we be on our way?"

"Yeah," Luffy said, standing. "Let's go."

They left the peaceful room and made their way down the staircase.


	8. To the Brink and Back, for the Moment

The Strawhats headed down the stairs and came out into a large room. The walls ahead were the color of mold and each held a door.

They went on ahead and tried the farthest door, finding it locked.

"Look," Robin said, kneeling. "The knob has three holes."

Each of the holes were colored differently: Orange, blue, and yellow.

"So . . . three keys," Zoro said.

"Obviously," Franky agreed. "Think they're in these doors?"

Everyone turned to see that the staircase they'd come down had vanished to be replaced by another door.

"Oh, great," Zoro muttered.

Brook chuckled. "Don't worry, Zoro- _san_. Should we split up and check each door?"

Luffy hesitated. "That'd be okay if we stick together in groups," he said at last. "Let's see . . . Robin, Chopper, you guys take the left door; Franky, Brook, you get the right; and me, Zoro, and Usopp are gonna check out this one." He pointed to the one which had replaced the stairway.

Usopp mumbled something under his breath.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"It's nothing, _captain_ ," Usopp muttered. Luffy frowned a bit at his tone, but left him alone. Chopper stared at him worriedly.

"Anyway, let's get searching," Luffy ordered. They split up and went into their designated doors.

* * *

Robin and Chopper ended up in a room with a single bookshelf on the far wall and a creepy doll perched upon it. Robin moved as if to shield Chopper.

"What?" Chopper said. "What's wrong?"

"That doll," Robin said. "It looks like the ones who attacked earlier. Be careful."

"Doll?" Chopper said curiously. "Where? The ones who attacked us? What?"

Robin stared at him. "I . . . when we got here, those artworks attacked us, don't you remember?"

Chopper nodded. "But I don't remember any dolls."

Robin pointed to the bookshelf. "Do you see anything on top of the shelf?"

"Sure I do," Chopper said with a little frown. "There's a plush bunny there."

Robin knelt and made him look at her. "Chopper . . . are you feeling okay . . . ?"

Chopper frowned again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are _you_ feeling okay? You're acting kinda weird . . . should I get a doctor?"

There was a pause.

"Oh!" Chopper exclaimed in genuine shock. " _I'm_ the doctor!"

Robin smiled gently. "Right," she said, standing. "Sorry for acting weird, Chopper. You're right, there's a bunny there."

Chopper shrugged. "Okay! Shouldn't we look for the key now?"

"Absolutely," Robin agreed. She and Chopper approached the bookshelf. Robin kept a close eye on the doll (which, for whatever reason, Chopper saw as a bunny) as she knelt and started going through the books.

For some odd reason, only one of them would come out. Robin studied it. It seemed to be a child's storybook, with the title _Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois_ in crayon on the front.

"What's a Galette day Rah?" Chopper asked curiously after Robin read the title to him.

"In some countries, they celebrate a certain holiday with a galette des rois, which is sort of like a cake," Robin explained. "A toy or a coin is hidden inside the cake, and if you get the slice with the prize inside, you get good luck or happiness for whatever period of time."

"Oh," Chopper said, his eyes shining. "Can we try making that back at the ship?"

"Certainly," Robin said, smiling. "So long as everyone's careful not to choke on the prize."

Chopper gulped.

"Let's see . . . perhaps the key's in the pages," Robin murmured. She tried to open the pages, but the book would not go past the first page.

"Hm," Robin muttered. "Maybe . . ."

She read the first page aloud. " _Today was Carrie's birthday. 'Happy birthday, Carrie!' Her friends all shouted. 'For your special day, we made you a galette des rois!'_ "

Now Robin was able to turn the second page.

"So it won't turn unless I read it aloud?" she mused aloud. She shrugged and showed Chopper the picture on the first page of four friends surrounding a table with the galette on it. The image was in crayon.

She turned the page as Chopper got comfortable for the story. "' _What's that?' Carrie asked. 'There's a coin hidden in this pie,' her friend, Emily, said. 'And if you get the slice with the coin in it, you'll be a happy person!'_

 _Carrie exclaimed, 'That sounds like fun!' and Emily said, 'Doesn't it? I'll cut the slices now!'_

 _Emily got a huge knife, borrowed from her mother, and sliced up the pie into four even pieces._ "

Robin showed the picture. It was the cake being sliced with that huge silver knife.

She turned the page. " _The friends were eating the pie when suddenly Carrie gasped. 'What's wrong?' David asked._

' _I think I just swallowed something hard!' Carrie said._

' _Oh, Carrie!' laughed Sarah. 'It must have been the coin!'_

' _What do I do?' Carrie asked, scared._

' _It's fine, the coin's small!' Emily said. 'I'll clean this up now!'_

 _Emily put the knife on the empty platter and began to carry it back to her kitchen."_

Robin showed Chopper the image of Carrie Careless's friend, Emily, carrying away the platter and knife.

" _Emily was passing by the study when she saw her mother standing there, looking upset,_ " Robin read on the next page. "' _What's wrong, mom?'_

' _Have you seen the key to the study?' Her mother asked._

 _Emily was confused. 'It's always right here on this table.' She pointed to the table by the door, and then she saw something strange._

' _What's this?' she said to herself. 'That's not the key. That's the coin that . . . should have been put . . . in the pie.'_ "

Robin frowned, not liking where this was going. She turned the page and continued.

"' _Whatever will I do?' her mother said, walking away in distress. 'My dear will be so upset!'_

 _Emily watched her mother go._

' _What am I gonna . . . do . . . ?' She asked. As she turned around—_ "

". . . Robin?" Chopper said. "Why'd you stop there? I wanna know what happens!"

"Chopper," Robin said quietly. "Cover your ears."

"What?"

"Please, just do it," Robin said. "Hum to yourself if you have to. Block out any noise."

Chopper was confused, but he did as Robin asked, stuffing his hooves into his ears and humming loudly to himself.

Robin took a deep breath and continued reading the story just above a whisper.

" _As she turned around, the knife fell off of the platter. Emily stared at it and got an idea._ "

Turn.

"' _Looks like I was just as careless as Carrie,' Emily said as she walked back to the living room, the knife in hand._ "

As Robin turned the page this time, there was an alarmingly loud sound, something like a knife slicing into something.

"What was that?" Chopper asked, taking his hooves out of his ears.

"Nothing," Robin said quickly. She turned the page, which displayed the image of Emily, covered in red crayon and holding a yellow key.

"' _I found the keeeey! Now the door can open!'_ "

Robin turned the final page to find the yellow key nestled in the cover. She quickly took it and slammed the book shut.

"Robin?"

"Yes?" Robin said warily.

Chopper looked at her curiously. "How'd the book end?"

Robin closed her eyes briefly. "It turned out that the key was under the table the whole time," she said, forcing a smile. "Isn't that silly?"

"Oh," Chopper said, relaxing. "Okay then!"

"Come on," Robin said. She put the book back and they left the room, Robin throwing one last glance back at the doll.

* * *

"Another one?"

Franky and Brook had found themselves in a room almost like a corridor, at the end of which was a single door. Brook strode forward and jiggled the knob to no avail.

"Locked," he reported, turning back. "But there's a message on it."

Franky came forward and read it.

 _Look under the hat._

Slowly he turned and looked up at Brook's top hat.

"It can't mean mine?" Brook said in surprise.

Franky yanked off the hat, much to Brook's indignation, and found something inside it. He gave the skeleton back his hat and examined the paper in his huge hand.

 _Now look in the corner._

They looked around and spotted a book in the far corner of the room which certainly hadn't been there before. Brook finished straightening his hat and went to pick it up.

"It's empty, Franky- _san_ ," he said, coming back to the cyborg. "The pages are blank."

"Huh," Franky grunted, examining it. "Why would this place give us an empty book?"

Brook chuckled. "It's as empty as my ribcage."

Franky rolled his eyes. "Why'd you have to turn that into a skull joke?"

"Why not?"

"Never mind. Hey . . ."

Franky took the book and ran a finger over the last page.

"This page is wet," he said slowly. "Why?"

Brook looked it over. "So it is . . ."

Franky frowned, tore out the page as if on impulse, and held it up to the light. Words appeared on it as if by magic.

 _You found the key!_

"So where is it?" Franky demanded.

Brook knelt, picked something up, and straightened up again, opening his bony palm to show Franky the blue key resting upon it.

"Oh," Franky said. He tossed the book and the paper aside. "Guess we should head back."

Brook nodded. "Indeed," he said, and turned to go.

"But . . ." Franky threw another glance at the locked door. "I'm kinda curious about that door . . ."

He went forward and grabbed the knob, twisting it fiercely in his huge hand—

—and then the room went dark.

"Whoa! You still there?!"

"Yes! Goodness, I can't see a thing . . . but of course, I have no eyes, so—"

"Now is not the time! What the hell happened to the lights?!"

As suddenly as they'd gone out, the lights came back on, but something was different. The walls were covered in messages written in dark blue paint.

 _THE DOOR IS NOT YOURS TO ENTER_

 _LEAVE THIS ROOM_

 _YOU BELONG WITH US_

 _YOU, ME, AND OUR FRIENDS_

 _KEEP OUT_

"I'm not one to listen to creepy messages written on walls," Franky remarked. "But I'm inclined to listen to that 'Leave this room' one."

Brook nodded and they hurried out.

* * *

Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp ended up in a room with a single painting on the far wall. The only thing painted upon the white canvas was an orange key.

"So there's our key," Zoro said. "But how do we get it . . . ?"

Luffy shrugged. "It's a mystery. We're gonna solve it!"

"Yeah, sure, we're gonna solve it," Usopp said sarcastically.

Zoro frowned at him. "Cut it out with that tone, will you?"

Usopp ignored him.

"Usopp?" Luffy said. "You wanna look at that painting and help?"

Usopp straightened, saluted, and marched over to the painting. He started checking it over, brushing his fingers against the canvas and examining it. Luffy gave him a worried look before turning to Zoro.

"Zoro," he said seriously. "You don't have any scars on your back."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Yeah . . . and . . . ?"

"I know you," Luffy said. "The only ones you let sneak up on you are _us_. You'd never let an enemy catch you by surprise, especially in a situation like this."

Zoro stiffened.

"I wanna believe you," Luffy said quietly, staring into his friend's face, "but I also think you lied to me."

Zoro looked up at the ceiling, determined not to meet his captain's gaze.

"Zoro? Why'd you lie?"

Luffy sounded hurt now.

"Zoro? You can tell me."

Zoro sighed and finally looked back at Luffy. "I would," he said. "But the thing is, you'd make me promise to never do it again, and in this place, who knows what could happen?"

Luffy frowned. "Tell me what happened. Captain's orders."

"Really?" Zoro said. "You're really pulling that? Is now the time?"

"Now's the perfect time. Spill."

Luffy stared at him intensely. Zoro gritted his teeth.

He was about to speak when Usopp said, "I got the key. Aren't we going?"

They turned to see Usopp holding up the orange key, the painting in the back now mysteriously blank.

Luffy glanced at Zoro. "We're gonna continue this later," he promised. He turned back to Usopp and grinned. "Nice! How'd you do it?"

Usopp sneered and stowed the key in his pocket, next to his rose. "Wouldn't you like to know. Just standing there, chattering, why should I tell you?"

"Okay, that's it," Zoro snapped. "Come on."

He went out the door, Luffy and Usopp close behind.

"Usopp," Luffy said softly. "Your rose is . . ."

He pointed at it. The withered part had spread out another centimeter since they'd last looked.

"What now?" Usopp said.

"It's . . . more withered," Luffy said lamely.

Usopp looked at his rose and back at Luffy darkly. "Stop that," he said as the others left their rooms and came back into the main one. "That's not goddamn _funny_."

"But . . . it _is_ withered," Chopper whispered.

Usopp whipped around and glared at him. Chopper shrank back.

"Stop it!" he yelled. "This isn't the time for jokes!"

Luffy raised his eyebrows. "Come to think of it . . . Nami was gonna tell us something about withered roses . . ."

"But then you had to let her get captured," Usopp said coldly.

Luffy looked at him, suddenly angry. "What?"

"You heard me," Usopp said. "You and Zoro. You're useless. You couldn't save Nami, and now she's god-knows-fucking-where because of _you_. Before you say it, shut up, I know, I didn't save her either. I was too scared to make a move. I'm just as useless. Isn't _that_ funny? A useless captain, swordsman, and sniper. Try _that_ for a joke."

As he spoke, the withered part of his rose slowly spread out a few millimeters. He started to grin.

"Yeah, now _that's_ funny," he said. "A band of useless pirates, stuck in a haunted art gallery!"

"Hey, watch that tone, Bro Usopp," Franky said warningly.

"Sure," Usopp said, grinning as he looked up at Franky. "Sure, I'll watch my tone. How about you watch as we all end up dying in here or getting trapped? In fact, why don't we all watch that? Fun times for all!"

Chopper hid behind Franky's legs as everyone looked around, concerned.

"Usopp."

Robin approached him gently. Usopp turned to her, still grinning.

"What?" he said. "Are you here to kick me out? Sorry, can't do that without the captain's word. Luffy, go on, give the word! I'll just stay here forever, _captain_ , if you order it!"

"Usopp." Robin made him look at her. "What happened in the mirror maze?"

Usopp's grin slowly faded. "What?"

Robin placed her hands on his shoulders. "What did the mirror demon show you?"

The sneer was back. "Why should I tell you? None of your business."

Robin tightened her grip. "I'll tell you what I saw if you tell me."

Usopp stared at her.

"I saw . . ." Robin closed her eyes briefly. Opening them, she said, "My reflection told me I would one day be a burden to the crew. That everyone would throw me aside once they got tired of me."

"What?" Brook said, startled. Zoro hushed him.

"And you know what happened?" Robin said. "I remembered what happened at Enies Lobby. I remember how that flag was shot down all for the sake of rescuing me. I knew that none of you would abandon me."

She looked at Usopp gently. "You can't want to stay here forever. We all love you. And surely you have someone to return to?"

Usopp slowly nodded.

"What did you see?"

Usopp gulped. "I . . . I . . ."

He started to tremble. "I . . . saw Merry."

His eyes filled with tears. "Merry . . . told me it was my fault . . . that she died . . . I said sorry over and over . . . but the funeral image . . . wouldn't leave . . ."

He began to sob, and his tears fell onto his rose.

"Told me . . . I wasn't good enough . . . no matter how many times . . . I apologized . . ." he choked out. "Reminded me . . . of me and Luffy's fight . . . I hated it . . ."

Robin pulled him into a hug. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "It's true, Merry's gone, but you know what?"

"What?" Usopp whispered.

"It wasn't your fault," Robin said gently. "There were too many enemies, that's all. You're not useless. You're an amazing friend and the best sniper this side of the Grand Line. Now you can stop that talk about staying here, because we're all going to get out together. Right?"

"R . . . Right," Usopp said. He sobbed into Robin's shoulder.

Chopper came forward and hugged Usopp's legs tightly. Luffy grabbed him in a one-armed hug, enveloping him comfortingly.

When everyone finally pulled away, Usopp was blinking back tears and wiping the rest away.

Suddenly he blinked as if waking up and looked around.

"Guys . . ." he said. "I—was I—have I been acting weird?"

"Yes," Zoro said.

"Oh," Usopp said, beginning to panic. "Oh, no, I'm so sorry—I didn't mean any of that—Luffy, I'm sorry—!"

Luffy grinned. "It's okay! You weren't yourself!"

Usopp looked down at his rose, watered by his tears, and frowned, plucking it out of his pocket to examine it.

"This is . . ." he said slowly. "These bits are . . . drying up . . ."

But even as he watched, the withered bits slowly bloomed back to health.

"Hm," he mumbled, putting his rose back. He looked around and smiled. "Guys . . . thanks."

"Don't mention it," Franky said. "Hey, do we all have the keys?"

"Wait," Luffy said, taking Nami's rose out of his pocket. "So . . . Nami was going to tell us something about withered roses . . . and she said that if your own rose withers, you might not see it."

The others nodded, Usopp looking thoughtful and slightly abashed.

"I kinda wish she'd told us, but now we have an idea of what a withered rose means," Luffy said slowly. "And that's bad, 'cause now her rose is . . ."

He held it up. The center of it, about two centimeters across, was dry and brittle . . . withering away.


	9. Foggy

Eventually, Franky broke the silence.

"So . . . somewhere, Sis is going cra—" he glanced at Usopp. "Well, she must be going through some shit."

Usopp gulped. "Her . . . her rose . . . it's already so withered . . ."

Before their eyes, another petal dried up.

"What is that creep _doing_ to her?" Zoro growled, his arms folded tensely.

Luffy gritted his teeth. "If that Sanji guy is the one doing this . . . I won't forgive him. Nami must be going through something awful."

"What . . . can we do?" Chopper whispered.

"Nothing."

Chopper stared at him.

"We can't do anything," Luffy said angrily. "We don't know where she is, and we don't even know what's happening to her. If a vase can't heal her rose, all we _can_ do is find her as fast as possible."

He tucked the orange rose back in his pocket and took a deep breath. "We all got keys, right? Let's head on."

The others nodded. One by one they inserted their keys into the respective keyholes. With three _click_ s the door unlocked and swung open. They stepped through and it swung shut behind them.

The seven found themselves in a long hallway. Their surroundings were pitch-black. They only knew there _were_ narrow walls by reaching out to their sides, and it was impossible to tell if there was a ceiling at all. The blackness seemed to extend far above them. The only thing of color in the place was the floor. Their floor was a pathway made of blue paint, twisting and winding far ahead of them to an almost imperceptible door.

Chopper stayed close to Zoro as the group walked forward. There was only just enough room for two to walk side-by-side.

"Is there even a ceiling?" Brook said quietly.

"Does it matter?" Usopp muttered. "Not like we can get out through the ceiling. Can we even get out at all?"

The others glanced at his scowling face. He looked around and suddenly seemed surprised.

"I—sorry," he said quickly. He blinked hard and shook his head sharply.

Franky patted his shoulder comfortingly and they pressed on.

"You doing okay?" Zoro asked without turning around.

". . . I dunno," Usopp said quietly. "I think I'll be fine."

"If you start feeling . . . odd, please just talk to us," Robin said gently.

Usopp nodded. "Yeah."

They finally reached the door. Luffy pushed it open and they entered.

They stood in a large place. The blue pathway stretched out to a three-by-three grid. There was a small white house-like building directly in front of them. Behind that, in the middle left square, there was a much longer white building stretching back to the left corner. The middle right square held a small building (which was the color of rotting blueberries), and the farthest middle square, behind the house-like one, displayed a simple square building in navy blue.

"We should split up," Luffy said abruptly.

"No," Usopp said, shaking his head. "No, no, no—last time we split up—"

Luffy looked at him in concern and held his shoulder. "I didn't mean by ourselves. We'll all have a partner."

"Oh," Usopp said, relaxing a bit. "Right . . . of course. Sorry." He smiled nervously.

Luffy gave him an encouraging smile and turned to the others. "Okay, I need to talk to Zoro about something alone, so we're gonna go to that big building." He pointed at the long white one to the left. Zoro shuffled away from Luffy as if to distance himself.

"Usopp, who do you wanna go with?" Luffy asked, but Usopp had already picked up Chopper and was holding him tightly like a security blanket. Chopper clung to him likewise.

"Got it," Luffy said. "Robin, Franky, Brook, you three okay going together?"

Robin cast Usopp and Chopper a troubled glance. "I suppose so," she said at last.

Franky and Brook nodded.

"We'll all meet up at that building in the back when we're finished with our spots," Luffy instructed. "Let's go!"

He pumped his fist in the air, but after no one else joined him, he sighed and started heading to the large building.

"Zoro, come on," he called.

Zoro sighed and reluctantly followed him.

"Are you sure you two will be fine on your own?" Robin asked tentatively.

"W-We're . . . taking this building, and it looks pretty peaceful," Usopp said, pointing to the house-like building in front of them. "And we've got each other."

Chopper nodded in agreement.

"If you say so," Robin murmured. "Then . . . Franky, Brook, let's go."

The three headed off to the right while Usopp and Chopper went inside the house-like place.

* * *

"Locked," Brook reported after jiggling the handle of the door on the blueberry building a number of times.

"Move over," Franky said irritably. After trying it for himself, he proclaimed that it was indeed locked.

"You could have taken my word for it," Brook said in a mildly offended tone.

Franky shrugged. "Guess we should head to that big building."

They set off.

"Say, Robin- _san_ ," Brook said as they walked, "why did you seem so concerned about those two?"

Robin sighed. "I wonder if Chopper will really be able to keep Usopp safe and . . . with us."

"That guy's tougher than he looks," Franky said.

"Maybe not as tough as you might think," Robin said. "He was hallucinating earlier and didn't realize it."

" _What_?" Franky and Brook said at the same time.

Robin sighed and told them about the doll.

"Oh," Franky said. "You think he's . . . gonna be okay?"

"I'm going to keep an eye on him," Robin said, not quite answering the question. "If it gets worse, I'll see what can be done."

They reached the big building. As it turned out, the door was completely covered by green rose vines, twisting and snaking all around the building.

They sat down and waited.

* * *

"Zoro . . ."

"Shouldn't we worry about these paintings?" Zoro said, trying to distract him. On the big back wall of the large building they'd entered were pictures of the whole crew. The drawings were not detailed, but they were still very good. Everyone held their respective rose and showed a smile on their face. Surrounding them were paintings of the blue dolls.

Luffy glanced at the paintings again and frowned. "That's not important. They aren't hurting us. I need to know why you lied to me."

"I _lied_ because I knew you would order me to never do it again," Zoro snapped.

"Do _what_ again?"

Zoro looked away.

"Zoro, look at me!" Luffy exclaimed. "I want to trust you! I can't do that if you lie to me! _What happened?_ "

Zoro looked at him slowly. "What would you have done in that situation?"

"What?"

"What would you have done," Zoro said, "if you saw an insane bastard holding your captain's life in his hands? What would you have done if you couldn't attack him because he has the rose in his hands and you've lost your strength?" He gritted his teeth. "What if he made an offer so you could have that rose? Wouldn't you take it?"

"What sort of offer?"

"The kind that lets you have your captain's life back," Zoro said. "The kind that lets him still get away with something."

Luffy stared at him, the blood slowly draining from his face.

"You didn't," he whispered. "Zoro, please tell me you didn't."

"But you told me not to lie to you."

Luffy's hands curled into fists. "Why . . . ?"

"You're going to be the King," Zoro said firmly. "I didn't know if he was going to keep his word on not hurting the roses. You can't die here."

Luffy raised his hand as if to slap Zoro, and he waited for the blow. But it never came. Luffy dropped his hand again.

"You're a moron," he said. "In this place, no one's life is worth more than anyone else's—and it's the same outside, too! We're all going to get out together, you hear me?! If anything like this happens again, promise me you won't throw away your life for mine!" He glared at Zoro. "Promise me!"

A long moment . . . and Zoro nodded reluctantly.

"Good," Luffy said. He smiled shakily. "Good. Please don't."

"You aren't too mad?"

"Oh, I'm pissed," Luffy said. "I'm gonna give you hell later. But I'm more pissed at that Sanji guy, so I'll have to get mad at you when we're all outside . . . when we get our strength back."

"I see," Zoro said. "I can deal with that."

"I know you can."

They looked around the building.

"Doesn't seem like there's anything in here," Zoro said. "Think we should head out?"

Luffy nodded. "After you?"

They left.

* * *

"Nice, safe building," Usopp said quietly, shutting the door behind him and Chopper. "Nothing's gonna hurt us."

"Do you wanna sit?" Chopper said.

The building was comprised of two rooms. They had entered the main room, where a small round table and three chairs sat. The other room was set off from the main area by a wall and a doorway.

"Yeah," Usopp said. They sat at the table. "Let's just rest for a bit."

"Sounds good," Chopper said, propping his head up on his hooves.

"Goodness, I didn't realize you were dropping by!"

Usopp and Chopper shrieked and looked up.

Sanji was standing in the doorway, holding a teapot and teacup, apparently having just come from the other room.

"Why, I'll have to get out more cups," he said. He hurried back into the other room as Usopp and Chopper sat in their seats, frozen with fear.

Sanji returned soon with two more teacups. He placed all three around the table and made pouring motions with the pot, yet once again nothing flowed from the spout.

"So nice of you two to come by," he said politely, sitting at his own seat and blowing on his cup as if to cool something off. "What brings you here?"

"Cut . . ." Usopp licked his lips nervously. "Cut the crap. Where's Nami?"

"The orange one?" Sanji said in surprise. "So that's her name! Nami- _san_ is safe, don't you worry. She isn't hurt, if that's what you're concerned about."

He picked up his cup and made a motion as if taking the smallest of sips.

"What's going on with her?" Chopper demanded. "Her rose was—what are you doing to her?!"

"I left my sisters to guard her," Sanji said, smiling at Chopper. "You'd have to ask them."

"And where are our roses?" Usopp demanded.

Sanji frowned. "You have too many questions. Your roses are safe. And speaking of which, may I have yours?"

"No!" Usopp exclaimed.

Sanji sighed.

"Ow!"

Sanji and Usopp glanced at Chopper, who was covering his mouth after hastily setting down his cup.

"The tea was too hot," he whimpered. "My mouth hurts."

Usopp frowned. "Tea? But . . ." he glanced at their empty cups.

"You have to blow on it to cool it first," Sanji said, smiling gently.

Chopper eyed him suspiciously and inched away.

"I heard your little spiel earlier," Sanji said to Usopp, taking another small sip of his imaginary tea. "I liked it."

Usopp frowned. "Stop that."

"Why don't you stay here? You seemed so willing to not long ago."

Usopp shook his head. "No. No, I'm—not staying."

Sanji smiled. "Why not?"

"Because . . ."

A sort of fog was starting to mist up his thoughts, making it harder to think.

Usopp gulped. "Robin . . . told me . . ."

"What did Robin- _chan_ tell you?" Sanji asked, still smiling.

Usopp held his head in his hands. "She . . . she said . . ."

"Go on."

The fog was starting to thicken.

"You can't remember?" Sanji said sympathetically. "So you really _do_ have no reason to leave."

"Stop it!"

As Usopp held his head, trying to remember his reason for leaving, Chopper jumped up on his chair and glared at Sanji.

"Stop doing whatever you're doing to him!" he cried. "Go away! Demon begone!"

He picked up his cup and made a tossing motion. Sanji looked at his suit and frowned.

"That wasn't nice," he said quietly. "Now my suit's all wet."

"Serves you right!" Chopper cried. "Stop making Usopp be like that!"

Sanji slowly slid a palette knife out of his sleeve. He stood next to Usopp and held the tip of the blade near his throat. Usopp did not react to his presence or the blade. Chopper's breath hitched in his throat.

"I don't like yelling," Sanji said quietly. "I'd like you to stop yelling at me."

"Get—get away from him," Chopper whispered.

Sanji smiled and withdrew the knife, sliding it back into his sleeve. "That's better."

He reached down and slipped Usopp's rose out of his pocket.

"No!" Chopper cried, but Sanji was already heading into the other room. Chopper jumped from the chair and followed him, but the other room was empty as a mirror. Sanji had vanished.

Chopper ran back to Usopp and shook his shoulder.

"Usopp?" he whispered. "Usopp . . . can you hear me?"

Usopp winced. "I . . ."

Chopper gulped and held back tears. "Usopp . . . come on. We're going out and we're gonna meet up with everyone else."

Usopp shook his head vigorously as if to clear it. ". . . O . . . kay."

"C'mon," Chopper said. He pulled Usopp up and slowly led him out the door. The sniper's head hung down the whole way.

". . . Maybe we can bur—" Franky cut himself off when he spotted the duo. "Guys! Hey . . . Bro Usopp?"

Usopp didn't react to his voice. The others looked at him with alarm.

"Chopper?" Robin said, kneeling. "What happened?"

Chopper looked like he was going to cry. "We, we went into that place, and then that Sanji guy was there, and he gave us tea, and he wouldn't tell us where Nami or our roses were, and then—"

"Slow down," Zoro said as Luffy hurried over to Usopp. "From the beginning."

Chopper slowly told them everything that had happened.

". . . And now Usopp's like this," he whimpered, biting his bottom lip.

"Franky, go ahead and do that thing," Luffy said.

"Right," Franky said. He took out the lighter from his pocket. After a couple of clicks, the flame burst into life. He set the thorns on fire and they burned up easily, freeing the door.

"Usopp," Luffy said gently. He tilted Usopp's head up. His eyes were dull.

"We're going inside," Luffy said slowly. "We're gonna help you there. Understand?"

Usopp blinked slowly. "I . . . okay . . ."

Luffy bit his lip in worry and scooped Usopp up bridal-style. The seven headed inside the blue building. The interior was about two-by-one.

Once inside, Luffy set Usopp down. Zoro and Franky helped support him.

"Can you hear me?" Luffy said gently.

Usopp took in a breath sharply. "Yes."

"You know who I am?"

". . . Luffy," Usopp said, some of the dullness fading from his eyes. "Luffy . . ."

Luffy grinned. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Robin said abruptly, "but that painting . . ."

Everyone glanced over at the wall opposite the door. It displayed a frame, which held an oil painting. It looked as if the subject had leapt out, judging by the shattered glass around the floor and the broken plate of the painting.

The placard beneath it read _Forgotten Portrait_.

Luffy's expression briefly darkened.

"Usopp first," he said decidedly. He turned back to his friend. "Usopp, do you remember your friends back home? The Usopp pirates."

Usopp licked his lips. "Pepper . . . and Onion, and . . . Carrot."

"Yeah, there you go," Luffy said. "How're you doing?"

Usopp's eyes became a bit brighter now. "I . . . not good. But . . . I'll be—"

"Having a party in _my_ room? And to think, I didn't even invite you."

Everyone turned. As he closed it behind him, Sanji stood in front of the door, looking livid.


	10. What We'd Lost, We've Found Again

"How did you get in here?" Sanji asked, slowly looking at everyone in turn. "How did you get past the thorns?"

"Hey, you!" Luffy snapped. "Give back our roses!"

Sanji ignored him and looked at Usopp, who trembled as he stared. Sanji give him a small smile. "Still can't make up your mind? I'm telling you, it's better if you stay here. You'll have so many friends, and we'll all have a lovely time together. Besides, why would you want to leave?"

Usopp gritted his teeth. "Shut . . . up . . ."

"I only want what's best for you," Sanji continued. "This can be your home if you so desire. You don't have to go outside. What do you have out there that you can't have in here, anyway?"

Usopp squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his temples in distress. "Stop . . . ! Stop . . . doing . . . that . . ."

Zoro helped support him. Before Sanji could say any more, Robin moved in front of him and slammed him against the wall, pinning him there with one arm on his neck and one clutching his wrists.

"If you say another word to him," she said coldly, "no amount of oil paint will fix what I do to you."

"Let . . . go, Robin- _chan_ ," Sanji snapped.

As he struggled, Luffy, Brook, and Chopper went to help Usopp, who had sunk to his knees.

"Usopp, can you hear me?" Chopper said frantically.

"Can't . . . think . . ." Usopp cried, his eyes squeezed shut. "Help . . ."

"Usopp- _san_ ," Brook said gently, kneeling next to him. "Open your eyes."

Usopp slowly slid open his lids and confusedly looked at Brook.

"Listen to me carefully," Brook said slowly. "Say aloud five things you see."

Usopp's brows furrowed. "I . . . I see . . . you . . ." his eyes darted frantically around. "Luffy . . . Chopper . . . Franky . . . m-my hands . . ."

"Good job," Brook said encouragingly. "Breathe."

Usopp took a shaky breath.

"Can you name four things you can feel?"

"I . . ." Usopp flexed his fingers. "The floor . . ." he reached outwards. "Chopper's . . . fur . . ."

Luffy touched his hand.

"Luffy's hand," Usopp said slowly. "And . . . my legs . . ."

"Breathe," Brook instructed, and Usopp took another slow breath.

"How're you doing?" Luffy asked quietly.

Some of the distress had left Usopp, and his hands were no longer shaking. "Better . . . ?"

"Three things you can hear."

Brook started humming and Usopp lifted his head slightly. " _Binks' Brew_ . . ."

Luffy grinned and clapped along to the song.

"Clapping . . . and my voice . . ."

"Breathe," Brook said again. He glanced back. Robin was still holding Sanji at bay.

"Two things you can smell."

When Usopp started to look confused again, Luffy quickly took out his rose and held it under Usopp's nose.

"Rubber and meat," Usopp said. "Luffy . . ."

Brook did the same with his rose.

"Tea . . . that's you, Brook."

"Good job," Brook said. He would have been smiling if he'd had lips. "Can you tell us about yourself now?"

Usopp stared at the opposite wall. "My name's Usopp," he said. "I'm seventeen . . . I'm the sniper of the Strawhat pirates . . . I like to draw . . . and . . . you're all my best friends!" He smiled shakily. "Did I get all that right?"

"You forgot one thing," Luffy said, grinning. "We're all getting out together!"

Usopp nodded. Zoro helped him stand and cast an approving glance at Brook as everyone straightened up.

"Where'd you learn that?" he asked curiously.

Brook shrugged. "Spending fifty years alone is no walk in the park. I did that game if I ever felt I was on the brink of madness."

"Thanks," Usopp said shakily, smiling.

"You doing okay now?" Luffy said, touching his shoulder.

"I'll be fine," Usopp said firmly, giving him a thumbs-up.

A sudden cry of pain made them all whip around or look up. Robin had hit the ground, blood dripping from her shoulder.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Sanji said, flipping a bloody palette knife in his hand.

"Franky, keep an eye on Usopp," Zoro said quickly. Usopp leaned into Franky as Zoro ran forward and punched Sanji square in the face.

Sanji stumbled backward and straightened, his expression furious as he lunged at Zoro with the palette knife. Zoro dodged and swept his legs out from underneath him, forcing Sanji to the ground as he planted his boot firmly on his torso.

Sanji began swinging and stabbing at Zoro's leg frantically, and though he made several small cuts, he was unable to force him off.

"Chopper," Zoro said. "The roses are in his jacket. Come on."

Chopper nodded and nervously approached Sanji. He squeaked in fear as he dodged the frantic swings, reached into the jacket, and pulled out the roses.

"Good job," Zoro said, taking his own and tucking it into his _haramaki_. Chopper tucked his in his antlers and ran over to give Usopp's back to him.

"Get . . . _off_ me . . . you green-haired oaf . . ." Sanji snarled.

"Luffy . . ."

Luffy looked down at Robin, who was slowly sitting up.

"Robin, are you okay?" Chopper squeaked.

"This isn't a bad wound," she murmured. "He caught me by surprise . . ."

"Robin, what's up?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy," Robin said. "He heals . . . at his painting. We can beat him if we get rid of it."

Luffy glanced back at the subjectless frame. "Got it. Franky?"

"Sup?"

"Toss me that lighter."

Franky pulled the lighter out of his pocket and threw it to Luffy. He caught it easily and brought it over to the frame.

"What are you doing?" Sanji whispered, his eyes wide with fear. "Where did you get that thing?"

Luffy looked him dead in the eye as he opened the lid.

"No—no, stop—" Sanji said desperately, struggling to get out from under Zoro's boot. "I thought—I just—I wanted you all to stay—aren't we all friends?"

Luffy's expression darkened as he sent Sanji a scary glare.

"Friends?" he said. "You kidnap our navigator and torture her somewhere, you make our swordsman trade away his life, you almost drive our sniper to madness, you stab our historian . . . and you have the nerve to call us _friends_?"

Sanji stared at him in desperation. "Stay away from my portrait—!"

"You think I'm going to _forgive you after this_?!" Luffy yelled.

He flicked the lighter on and held it under the frame. Over Sanji's yells of protest, the frame lit up quickly. The flames spread across the bottom, and since the painting was oil, the canvas easily caught on fire. Soon the entire painting was engulfed in flame.

"What?" Sanji whispered, staring down at his shirt cuff, which had started to smoke. "No . . . no . . ."

He frantically started patting at it, but since the canvas burned on, so did he. Zoro stepped away from him as the fire on his sleeve grew and spread down his arm.

"Stop, stop, NO!"

His legs were on fire now, as well as his other arm, and his bangs were starting to smoke.

The Strawhats backed away from him and stared in horror and relief as Sanji's whole body was engulfed by the flames, and he screamed and writhed on the ground to no avail. The smell of burning oil reached their nostrils.

As the flames on the canvas began to burn themselves out, the cloth, paint, and wood quickly turning to ash, everyone suddenly clutched their heads.

"Oh, god, what's happening?" Usopp groaned. "Head . . . hurts . . ."

As one, they gasped.

 _Everyonegonepaintingsmoving  
Redrosegreenrosepinkrosepurpleroseyellowroseorangeroselightblueroseblackrose_ _ **blue**_ _rose  
Bloodeverywhereithurts  
Creepydollsevildolls  
Hauntedgallery  
LadyinRedLadyin_ _ **Blue**_ _LadyinGreenLadyinYellow  
Keyseverywherewheredotheygotheresthedoor  
FamilyandFriendswhataretheydoinghere  
Everyonegetouttotherealworld  
FabricatedWorld  
 **He** didn'tescape  
SouschefBaratie  
Shameless **flirt**  
 **Cook** who **kicks**  
WhiskeyPeakLittleGardenDrumKingdomAlabastaSkypieaWater7EniesLobbyThrillerBark  
 **Stupid** cook  
 **Ero** cook  
 **Love** cook  
Swirly **eyebrows**  
Cigarettes  
 **Smoking** lighter  
 **Lighter** and **fire**  
Blondhairandcool **fighter**  
 **Idiot** withwomen  
 **Food** isthebest  
 **He** cooksthefood  
 **He** isa **cook**  
Heis **ourcook**  
 **Heisourfriend**  
 **Hisnameis**_

As one they turned in absolute horror to the burning figure on the floor, writhing in pain, and as one they yelled:

" _SANJI!"_


	11. Let's Go Back Together

"Oh my god, _Sanji_ ," Usopp gasped, clutching Franky's shirt, breathing hard and fast as he tried to hold back tears and failed miserably. "Sanji—he—how could we just forget him?!"

"Nami was right . . . all along," Chopper cried, openly sobbing.

"What _happened_ to him?" Robin asked, standing slowly. "To make him act like that . . ."

"He never made it through the mural," Brook said softly, tears pouring from his eye sockets. "He never made it back with us!"

"More importantly," Zoro said with a touch of urgency, "he's on fire."

Sanji's cries had died down. He seemed to have fallen unconscious—at least, this was the best-case scenario—but his body curled in on itself within the flames.

"He can't have known what he was doing," Luffy said to himself slowly, staring at Sanji in shock. He began to cry with Usopp and Chopper. "Put him out! Someone do something!"

"Can we get water?" Franky asked, looking around frantically as tears poured like waterfalls from his eyes. "Is there a vase?"

"There's nothing here!" Chopper cried. He clung to Usopp's leg and sobbed, "What do we do?! He's going to die!"

The painting behind Luffy finally burned itself out. As it did so, the flames began to die down on Sanji's body.

Luffy strode forward, yanked his shirt off, and started beating the flames with it. With his help, the awful crackling and the smoke faded away, and Sanji was no longer alight.

Luffy put his shirt back on after shaking off some ash and turned to the prone body on the floor. The others hurried forward and bent down next to him, looking over their cook.

Sanji's body was oddly free of burns. The rose nestled in his breast pocket, too, was unblemished. His eyes were closed and he breathed faintly.

"He's alive," Robin murmured, biting her lips nervously. "Somehow . . ."

"Something . . . awful must've happened," Usopp whispered. "When he stayed behind . . . back then."

Franky gulped. "We'd forgotten . . . everything about the first time . . ." he unsuccessfully tried to choke back another sob. "Back then, we—we didn't pay attention—and he—"

The smallest of groans came from Sanji and they fell silent, staring at him.

He slowly opened his eyes and everyone backed up.

"We know him," Brook whispered. "But . . . he's lost his mind, hasn't he?"

"Stay back," Luffy said, moving in front of the crew.

Ever-so-slowly, Sanji pushed himself upright. He blinked and licked his lips slightly, staring at his hands.

He reached for the bloody palette knife next to him (the Strawhats tensed warily), raised it, and stabbed his thigh with all his might.

Usopp and Chopper gasped, and Sanji winced. A petal fell from his rose. He rubbed at the wound with his fingertips and drew his hand away, examining the sticky red substance on his nails.

"It's real," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "Not paint . . . real blood."

He tossed the knife aside, staring at his bloodstained hand as he clenched it. Tears slowly welled up and spilled over. He touched his face.

"Real blood . . . and real tears," he said, slightly louder now. His voice trembled.

He turned to the Strawhats, his breathing jerky with sobs.

"What have I _done_?" he said softly in horror as the tears flowed. He stood, his legs shaking like leaves in a storm. "I never—I never wanted to hurt—"

"Sanji?" Luffy said cautiously. "You're . . . back?"

Sanji let out another sob. He looked like he could collapse at any moment. "I'm . . . back," he whispered.

It took only a moment's hesitation for Chopper to run forward and hug Sanji's legs.

"I—you— _Sanji!"_ he cried, wiping tears and snot on Sanji's pants. " _Sanji_ . . ."

Sanji stared at him in confusion. "Chopper . . . why . . ."

"Damn it, Bro, I'm not crying!" Franky yelled, hugging Sanji tightly with one arm and openly crying.

"Franky . . . ?"

Sanji shook his head. "No . . . I . . . why? After those horrible . . . things . . ." his shoulders shook. Suddenly he looked at Robin in horror. "Robin- _chan_! Your shoulder! I can't believe it, I—"

"I'm fine," Robin said quickly. She smiled. "It's good to have you back."

"She isn't even bleeding," Chopper said reassuringly, squeezing Sanji in another tight hug. The others looked at him oddly, for Robin's wound actually _was_ bleeding, albeit not very badly.

Sanji's legs trembled again. "Nami- _san_ ," he gasped suddenly, looking as if he might faint from horror. "No, no, _no_ , what have I _done_ , Nami- _san_ —!"

"Sanji," Luffy said, " _where is she_?"

"I'll—I'll take us there," Sanji said frantically. "Her rose is—?"

Luffy held it up. Except for a few petals at the base, the rose was completely withered. Sanji paled.

"This is all my fault," he whispered. "We have to hurry . . . !"

He turned, wiping at his tears with his sleeve. "She isn't far—come on!"

Stumbling, he hurried out the door, and the others ran after him.

"Usopp, you doing okay?" Zoro asked.

"Better than before," Usopp said, scrubbing at his eyes with his arm.

Sanji led them to the building that Robin, Franky, and Brook had been unable to get inside before. To their surprise, he turned the handle and it unlocked easily.

They piled inside and gasped at the scene. Dolls were scattered around the room, innocently lying prone as if they had always been inanimate. Propped against the far wall was Nami. Her arms and legs were limp and covered in scratches, streaked with dried blood. Her eyes were open and staring at the floor, and her mouth—her mouth was stitched tightly shut, large holes dotted with blood on her lips. She didn't react to the door opening.

"Sanji," Luffy whispered. "You didn't . . . ?"

Sanji stumbled forward to Nami and fell on his knees next to her. "Nami- _san_ , please look at me," he whispered. "Please! Please . . ."

She slowly looked up at him. Her eyes were blank and she smiled. She lifted her scratched arms and pulled open her eyelids wide, staring at Sanji with that smile. She tilted her head and let go of her eyes, blinking hard, and made a small noise in her throat that might have been a laugh.

"What happened to her?" Zoro demanded. "Cook?"

Sanji shook his head, staring at her as she continued smiling and waved in all sorts of ways with both hands. "I . . . hadn't come back . . . after I . . ." a sob came out and he gestured to her mouth. "It's my fault . . ."

He slowly reached towards her. Usopp automatically made a movement to stop him, but Zoro held out a hand and shook his head. They moved back and watched as Sanji rested a hand gently on Nami's chin, holding up her head. With his other hand he deftly untied the end of the stitches and slowly, ever-so-slowly and gently, pulled them out. Now her mouth was free, decorated in red dots, and her smile was slightly wider, but no less sane.

"Nami- _san_ ," Sanji said softly, still crying. His right hand caressed her cheek with a feather's touch and he kept holding up her chin with his left. "Nami- _san_ . . ."

He stared into her eyes as he spoke. She blinked slowly and her smile seemed to slip off her face by the smallest of measurements.

Sanji turned and looked at the roses in Luffy's pockets, and Luffy, understanding, cautiously handed him her withered rose.

"Nami- _san_ ," he said, holding it up with his right hand. "Your rose . . . it's safe. Luffy . . . kept it safe for you . . . all this time."

Nami blinked again and her smile faded slightly. Some light returned to her eyes.

"Nami- _san_ ," Sanji said, staring into her eyes, and this time the blankness left them and her smile disappeared completely. She blinked confusedly, looking around and staring at the scratches on her limbs.

"Nami- _san_!" Sanji cried. "Are you—? You're okay, aren't you?"

She looked at him and her eyes widened. She gasped and pressed herself against the wall in fear.

"Oh . . ." Sanji murmured, staring down. He held out Nami's rose, and she quickly took it from him, seemingly not wanting to get too close. She held it and began to cry quietly.

"Sanji, move," Luffy ordered. "Let me talk to her."

"Of course," Sanji whispered. He scooted back and stood, Brook gripping his shoulders. Luffy knelt by Nami as she slowly put her rose behind her ear. It was much less withered than before.

"Hey," he said quietly. "Nami?"

She looked at him, tears evident on her face.

"You know who we are, right?"

She nodded and looked at Sanji fearfully.

"Sanji's back," Luffy said, slowly touching her shoulder. She jumped at first, but then let his hand stay. "Our memories are back, too. We all remember everything, and we're gonna find a way out of this place."

Nami nodded, her face screwed up with tears.

"Can you walk?"

She shook her head.

Luffy frowned. "Nami . . . can you _talk?"_

Behind him, Sanji's breath hitched in his throat. Nami slowly shook her head.

"Okay," Luffy said gently. "Here, I got you."

He turned around and she climbed onto his back. He scooped up her legs around his sides, and her arms were loose around his shoulders.

"I didn't . . ." Sanji whispered. "I never . . . I only—" he struggled to say the words. "It was only—her mouth—"

At this he had to turn away.

"—So why—can't Nami- _san_ talk?"

Nami flinched at his voice.

"It must . . ." Robin murmured. "It must have been traumatizing for her. In such cases . . . the person may take a long time to speak again, and worst-case . . . they will never speak again."

Sanji's eyes widened. "No . . . Robin- _chan_ , you can't be . . ."

She looked at him.

"Oh, god," he whispered. He looked at Nami, who quickly turned away from him. "Nami- _san_ . . ."

"Cook," Zoro said. "Shut up."

Sanji looked at him. "What—"

"Save the lamenting for later," Zoro snapped. "That isn't helping. If you know a way out of here, tell us _that_ instead of how sorry you are."

Sanji choked back another sob and tried not to look at Nami. "Right." He pointed to a door adjacent the wall they'd come in from. "Through there."

Luffy led the way, hitching Nami up a bit higher on his back, and everyone followed, Sanji trailing behind. Brook glanced back to make sure he was still there.

To their surprise, they came out in the room Franky and Brook had entered before, through the door which had been locked when the two had tried it before. The painted messages were still there and Sanji stared at the floor.

"Keep going," he whispered.

The nine went through the far door and found a staircase. Luffy glanced back at Nami.

"Nami, are you okay there?" he murmured.

She gave him a nod and held on tightly as he slowly descended. The others followed, very cautious in the darkened stairway.

When they reached the bottom, the room was lit faintly, though everything was still rather dim.

"Everyone here?" Luffy asked, doing a quick headcount. He nodded. "Good. Okay . . ."

"This is . . ." Usopp whispered. "Just like before . . ."

They had come out in the room just like the entrance lobby of the _real_ gallery, just like last time.

"It's . . . been so long . . . since I've seen this," Sanji whispered. He shook his head quickly. "The mural . . ."

"Let's go," Luffy said. He turned on his heel and marched towards the stairs with everyone.

With some stumbling and wary glances, they were finally in front of the mural _Fabricated World_.

"We're here," Chopper whimpered in relief. "We just have to . . ."

". . . Make sure no one stays behind," Luffy completed. "Nami, can you stand?"

She slowly let herself down from his back and held his hands tightly for support, her legs shaking.

"Good job," Luffy said encouragingly. "You're strong."

"Let her go first," Sanji murmured. He looked down, not wanting to see Nami's reaction to him. "She deserves it . . ."

"Yeah," Luffy agreed. "Hey, can someone else help her?"

"Why?" Zoro asked curiously, though he stepped forward first.

"I should go last," Luffy said.

Zoro narrowed his eyes slightly in approval. "Right. Here," he said to Nami, who slowly took his hands. He climbed through the portrait, holding her tightly so she would not slip.

They landed safely on the other side and Zoro gave them a thumbs-up. Luffy gave him one back.

"Usopp, you wanna go next?" he asked.

Usopp nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I do," he said quickly.

Sanji held out his hands in an offer of assistance, but Usopp flinched and Sanji quickly drew back.

"Oh," Usopp mumbled. "I . . ."

"I understand," Sanji murmured. "Go with someone else."

Usopp looked away. Franky offered up a large hand and Usopp quickly took it. Franky helped him through the painting and they got to the other side safely with Zoro and Nami.

"Chopper- _san_?" Brook said, extending a skeletal hand. Chopper held it and Brook brought them both through the mural.

"Then . . . that leaves . . ." Luffy said.

Sanji tentatively held out his hands. "Robin- _chan_ . . . will you accept my help . . . ?"

She gently took his hands, but his legs nearly buckled and he ended up using her for support. She smiled and murmured, "I think that was _my_ line."

"I'm sorry," Sanji whispered, his legs trembling again. He glanced back. "Luffy, I—"

"Go," Luffy interrupted. Sanji followed Robin and they climbed into the painting together. Once on the other side, Sanji stumbled and held onto Robin's hands tightly.

"Come on, captain," Zoro said.

"Luffy, you can do it," Usopp called, waving.

Nami just looked at him, waiting.

Luffy grinned, bent his knees, and jumped through.

* * *

Their roses were gone, and they stood together in front of _Fabricated World_.

They blinked and looked around.

"We . . ." Robin said. "Our memories . . ."

"We didn't forget?" Usopp said shakily. "But . . . why?"

"I almost . . . wish we did," Chopper admitted.

The sun setting through the windows in some other part of the gallery gave the white walls the look of melting butter.

"The sunset," Sanji whispered. "How long ago . . . ?"

His face screwed up. "The real world . . . finally . . ."

His eyelids fluttered shut and he fell to the floor like dead weight.

"Sanji," Chopper exclaimed, and sighed in relief when he found that Sanji still breathed.

"Hey," Zoro said, startled, as Nami, too, fainted dead away. He caught her just in time.

"They must've . . . been through . . ." Usopp's head dipped. "A . . . lot . . ."

His knees buckled, and despite his efforts, he, too, passed out.

"Guys!" Chopper exclaimed in worry. "Oh, no, are they okay?!"

"They must be exhausted," Robin murmured. "Of course they are . . ."

"We can all rest at the Sunny," Franky said. He knelt and scooped up Usopp. Luffy moved forward and got Sanji while Zoro adjusted his grip on Nami so he could properly carry her. Both Nami's and Sanji's faces held dry tear tracks.

As they walked, Chopper looked up and gasped. "Robin, your shoulder—where'd that blood come from?"

Robin looked at him in surprise and smiled in relief. "I'll explain later," she murmured. "Let's just . . . leave."

Luffy looked around at his crew—at Usopp and Franky, the former breathing peacefully; at Chopper, who was keeping a concerned eye on Robin's shoulder, and Robin, who hid her wound with a hand; at Brook, who walked next to Chopper and was trying to coax him into calming down and offering a ride on his shoulder if he needed; at Zoro, holding Nami, whose breathing was becoming stronger each second; and finally at Sanji, unconscious in his arms, almost looking like he was asleep.

"Yeah," Luffy said. "Let's go . . . back home. Together."


	12. It'll Get Better

Sanji awoke with a gasp. He stared up at the ceiling, breathing hard, and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Sanji?"

He turned his head to see Chopper in his wheeled chair, keeping a concerned eye on him. Of course—he was in the infirmary.

"How're you feeling?" Chopper asked, getting out his stethoscope and listening to Sanji's heart. "Your heart sounds healthy enough."

Sanji stared at him. "Chopper . . . I . . ."

"Sanji?"

"I took your rose," Sanji said bleakly. "I don't understand . . . why are you taking care of me . . . ?"

Chopper stared at him in shock. "What—Sanji, that doesn't matter! I'm taking care of you because you—" he hesitated. "You—must've gone through some horrible stuff back then—so you need looking after. You're my patient and my friend. And even if we weren't friends, I'd take care of you, because that's what a doctor does."

"I took your life. I could have killed you."

"But you _didn't_ ," Chopper said. "It's okay . . . Sanji, it's okay, it's over with."

Sanji took a few quick breaths and tried to calm down.

"How's everyone else doing?" he murmured.

Chopper looked up in thought. "Well, I'm fine," he said slowly. "Luffy, Franky, and Brook only had a few scratches at most . . . Zoro cut his hand up, but it'll heal soon enough . . ." he hesitated. "Usopp woke up not too long ago. He seems to be a lot better now."

"And the girls?"

"I fixed up Robin's shoulder," Chopper said. "It's not that bad. It probably won't even hurt to use that arm."

"What about . . . Nami- _san_?"

Chopper looked down.

"Chopper . . . ? Is she . . ."

"She woke up a little after Usopp did," Chopper said quietly. "Robin told me. She ate a little bit, and I think she's resting again. Her mouth's gonna heal up just fine. Those holes are really tiny."

Sanji nodded. He looked like he was on the verge of breaking down into a sobbing mess again.

Chopper's Doctor Face melted away. He climbed onto the bed and hugged Sanji around the middle.

"We all missed you," he said, sniffling into Sanji's jacket. "We didn't realize it for a long time, but we missed you so much."

Sanji squeezed him back gently.

"You're warm . . ."

"Hm?"

"Nothing was warm in that place," Sanji said quietly. He stared at the opposite wall. "Not even me."

They were silent for another minute.

"Chopper . . . how long was I in there?"

Chopper looked up at him. "What?"

"There wasn't any sun, or a clock to be found," Sanji said slowly. "I don't know how long I was in there. It could have been years for all I know."

"It was three days," Chopper said. "Just three days."

". . . Three days."

"Our memories got messed with for some reason," Chopper said, burying his face into Sanji's jacket again. "It was so confusing, we all thought we'd been taking turns doing the cooking, but we didn't know what anyone's food tasted like . . ."

"Why did you return?" Sanji asked quietly.

"Nami," Chopper said. "She kept going back—to look at your portrait—and then on the third day she remembered you, and she was trying to tell us about you, and what you were like, but no one knew—"

His breath was coming in hiccupping sobs now.

"Sanji, don't ever leave us again," he wailed, clinging to the cook's shirt.

Sanji hugged him tightly, still staring at the wall.

"What time is it?" he asked suddenly. "I need to make dinner . . ."

"Brook took care of that," Chopper said, sniffling again. "He's an okay cook, but . . . can you make breakfast tomorrow? I mean—if you don't feel up to it—"

"I'll make breakfast tomorrow," Sanji said. "I just—I want things to be normal again."

* * *

True to his word, Sanji was up and cooking up a storm the next morning. When the crew came in and saw him up and about as normal, he was greeted with happy shouts and hugs, mostly from Luffy and Franky.

But when Nami came in, and Sanji looked at her in worry, she flinched and avoided his gaze. It seemed she still couldn't talk. Sanji tried to avoid looking at her to prevent causing her more discomfort, and he also avoided the gazes of Luffy, Zoro, Robin, and Usopp.

So because of all this, the mealtime noise died down and breakfast ended up being rather subdued.

* * *

 _Three days later_

The solemn atmosphere of the crew lingered. They had set sail earlier that day; Nami was finally feeling well enough to go about her normal duties as navigator, minus the shouting. Robin helped her out by being a mouthpiece and informing the others of what Nami wanted to say.

In addition, Nami—to the others' happiness—had brought herself to be able to look at Sanji now without flinching as much, and was able to hold her gaze without averting her eyes.

That night, long after they had dropped the anchor, Robin quietly entered the lit kitchen to find Sanji sitting at the table, cradling his head in his arms. As she shut the door behind him, he looked up and his eyes widened.

"Robin- _chan_ ," he said. He stood, almost knocking his chair to the ground. "Do you want anything? Coffee, or I can make some cake—"

"Coffee would be lovely," Robin said quietly, and Sanji almost tripped in his haste to fulfill her request. In a moment he'd brought her a steaming cup. She thanked him and he quietly sat back down.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

"Hm?" Sanji said, though he had heard her perfectly.

Robin's eyes were filled with sympathy. She reached her hand out and touched his shoulder. "No wonder," she murmured. "Anyone would have nightmares after that place."

She glanced at the door to the infirmary, but said nothing and looked back at Sanji.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently. "You don't have to."

Sanji slowly shook his head. "No, I—I want to."

"It might help."

Sanji gulped.

"It was . . ." he paused, struggling to find words. "It was painful."

He clenched his hands on the table.

"What Usopp was going through—what _I_ put him through—it was like that, but it was so much more intense."

His hands trembled. Robin sprouted a hand on his back and gently rubbed it in order to calm him down. It seemed to work.

"I was . . . losing everything," he said slowly. "I was forgetting . . . who I was . . . who everyone was . . . and I tried so hard to hold on, but I'm _weak_ , I lost the fight . . ."

"You're not weak," Robin scolded him gently. "You didn't break for a long time, right? You must have been very strong to keep going all that time. Going through all that doesn't make you weak. You're one of the strongest people I know."

Sanji looked at her in surprise. Another hand sprouted from the table to brush a strand of hair from the right side of his face in a motherly fashion.

"I stabbed you," he whispered.

"You weren't yourself," she reminded him. She touched the spot; the bandages had been removed. "I can barely feel it now."

She had to stop herself from wincing.

"Palette knives can't cut too deep," she added.

"Please, if there's any way I can make it up to you—"

"Learn to forgive yourself and move on," she replied calmly. "I forgave you the moment I remembered. Maybe you should do the same."

Before Sanji could reply, the door was quietly pushed open and closed again. Sanji and Robin looked up to see Usopp holding a sleeping Chopper.

"Hi," he whispered. "Chopper was sleepwalking, and I was gonna bring him back to bed, but then I saw the light . . ."

He shrugged and sat next to Robin, keeping Chopper in his lap.

"Am I interrupting anything?" he asked quickly, seeing Sanji's face.

"Usopp," Sanji said. "Back there, I . . . and your rose . . ."

"It's fine," Usopp said quickly. He grinned in an abashed kind of way. "I shouldn't have let all that get to me in the first place, right?"

"I know how all that must have affected you," Sanji said, looking at him bleakly. "You're so lucky Brook and the others were there to help you."

Usopp's grin slipped away. "Yeah," he murmured. "But Sanji—it's okay. I'm doing way better now that we're out of there."

"And you know you're a valuable member of our crew," Robin supplied.

"Yeah, always," Usopp said, giving a thumbs-up.

Sanji gave him a hesitant smile, and Usopp grinned back.

Then Sanji looked at Chopper, sleeping peacefully in Usopp's arms. He frowned in concern.

"Back then . . ." he said slowly, "in that house . . ."

"He was hallucinating, wasn't he?" Usopp said, furrowing his brow.

Robin nodded. "Earlier, he mistook one of the dolls—"

Sanji jumped and Robin patted his shoulder. "Sorry. He thought it was a plush rabbit."

"And then he didn't notice your shoulder wound, right?" Usopp said in confusion.

"There was a book . . ."

Usopp and Robin looked at Sanji.

"In the gallery," he said slowly, wincing at the memory. "There was a book with only two sentences. _If your mind suffers, you will begin to hallucinate, and eventually it will break apart. And what's more worrying is you will not even be aware of this fact._ "

". . . Wow," Usopp said quietly. "That . . . makes sense . . ."

"Chopper must have been very scared," Robin said softly. "And he started to hallucinate as a defense mechanism, to keep him from understanding the scary things. He seems to be fine now, in any case."

Sanji took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one with his lighter. It had been returned to him the day before.

"The painting part of me was burned away," he said slowly. He was about to put the cigarette in his mouth when he frowned and stubbed it out on the floor with his heel.

"No smoking in the kitchen," he muttered to himself. "Right." He sighed and continued, "The painting got burned away, so I went back to normal . . . somehow."

His hands shook briefly, but he stilled them.

"I'm so glad you survived that," Usopp said shakily. He glanced at Chopper (still sleeping) and said, "When we all remembered, you were still burning . . . and it was so scary. What if we'd lost you again?"

Sanji took a few shaky breaths.

"I'm not ever going to be able to deal with galleries or museums ever again," he murmured. "It's been traumatic . . . to say the least."

"Hey, cook, got any booze?"

Everyone looked up to see Zoro coming in. He shut the door behind him, looked at Sanji, and said again, "Any booze?"

"Yeah—just a sec," Sanji said. He stood quickly and hurried to the fridge, opening it and tossing a full bottle to Zoro, who easily caught it and popped open the cork. They both sat at the table, Zoro on Sanji's right.

"I guess I owe you an apology, too," Sanji said softly.

"Huh? Nah," Zoro said.

"Are you kidding?" Sanji said disbelievingly. "I made you trade away your—"

"Shove off," Zoro snapped. "That was my choice to make. You don't blame the merchant for the customer's purchase."

"Trade away?" Robin said curiously. "Zoro, you didn't . . ."

"What was I supposed to do?" he muttered.

Usopp's eyes widened, as he'd only just understood. "Zoro—for Luffy's rose—?"

"Drop it. He already talked to me about it."

"Would this 'talk' have anything to do with that shiner?" Robin asked. Zoro was still sporting a huge black eye.

"Luffy has a unique way of talking," he replied. He threw his head back and took another swig.

"Unique what now?" Luffy asked. Everyone jumped and turned to see him coming through the door. He cheerfully sat at the head of the table.

"I heard voices," he explained. "Are we having a party?"

"More like a forgiveness session," Usopp said quietly.

Luffy glanced at Sanji. "Oh."

"Go ahead and hit me, Luffy," Sanji said, staring at his shoulder. "Kick me, beat the shit out of me . . . do whatever you want."

Luffy frowned. "I've thought about that. And I realized that it should be up to the others to decide if they want to hit you or not. _I've_ decided not to hit you."

Sanji looked at him and the others.

They just shrugged.

"I'll just kick your ass when we spar," Zoro said.

"I'll be sure to slap you next time you do something annoying," Robin offered.

"You'd probably just kick me out of reflex, and I already forgave you," Usopp said.

Sanji put his head in his hands again. "How can you all . . . so easily . . ."

"For god's sake, cook, shut _up_ ," Zoro said, rolling his eyes. "We already forgave you the second we got our memories back. Quit all this apologizing. It ain't like you."

"Neither was that stuff I did—"

"Exactly. _That wasn't you_ , asshole."

Sanji sighed. "So crude as always . . ."

Luffy grinned.

"What about Nami- _san_?"

"What about her?" Usopp asked slowly.

"Will she forgive me?"

The others were quiet.

"If she hasn't already, she will eventually," Luffy said confidently. "She knows it wasn't really you back then."

"But she can't even talk," Sanji said. "All because of— _me_."

"You can ask her yourself," Robin suggested. "Nami?"

A hand sprouted by the infirmary door and opened it up to reveal Nami. Apparently she'd been eavesdropping for a while now, and she looked a bit embarrassed at being caught.

"Come on, sit down with us," Robin said gently, and Nami slowly came forward. She sat on Sanji's left and glanced at him.

"Nami- _san_ ," Sanji said softly, gathering up the courage to look at her. "Do you want anything? Coffee, tea, or . . ."

She shook her head.

"I want food," Luffy muttered.

"Can it wait?" Zoro asked. "They're having a moment."

Sanji glared at him and Nami smiled faintly—a _real_ smile.

"There it is!" Luffy exclaimed.

Everyone looked at him confusedly.

"Nami, you smiled," he said brightly. "I promised I'd get your smile back, and there it is!"

She looked surprised for a moment, but then smiled again and gave him a thumbs-up.

"How're you feeling?" Robin asked. Like she'd done with Sanji earlier, she started rubbing Nami's back soothingly with a phantom hand. Nami shrugged and made a face.

"She says, 'Not that great, but I'll be fine,'" Robin said, and Nami nodded.

"How do you get that from one look?" Usopp asked incredulously.

Robin just gave him an enigmatic smile.

"Nami- _san_ ," Sanji said quietly, and she looked at him warily.

"Nami- _san_ , I can't apologize enough for what I did," he said. "Can you ever forgive me?"

She looked at the table.

Sanji nodded sadly and looked away. "I understand."

"She says, 'I forgive you.'"

Sanji glanced at Robin, who was looking at Nami, and he looked back at her to see her looking at him with raised eyebrows. She made a fist and punched him lightly on the side of the head.

He rubbed the spot and smiled. "Nami- _san_ . . ."

She folded her arms and shrugged.

"She says, 'What are friends for?'" Robin said.

Sanji smiled again, and this time his shoulders shook with small sobs.

"I don't want to lose . . . any one of you . . . ever again," he murmured.

Luffy grinned. "That goes for you, too! Keep your head up, okay? It'll get better!"

Sanji looked at him with a grin.

". . . Yeah . . . it'll . . . get better."

The words were spoken very softly, and with great hesitance, or perhaps struggle. But they were not spoken by Sanji.

Everyone slowly turned to look at Nami.

* * *

~Fin~

* * *

 **Story's done! Thanks for all your support, everyone!**

 **(As it turns out, there is a one-shot to complete this story:** **/s/11927316/1/Memories-of-the-Gallery)**


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